Poverty and health at the periphery of Ouagadougou

Clémentine Rossier, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)
Abdramane Soura, Université de Ouagadougou
Jean-François Kobiané, Université de Ouagadougou

Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, is a rapidly growing city of 1.4 million inhabitants (2006); part of them live in informal settlements and a third was not born in the city. The Ouagadougou Demographic Surveillance System (ODSS) started at the end of 2008, and covers about 80 000 individuals in five poor peripheral neighborhoods. Using quantitative and qualitative data collected in the ODSS, we first describe the poorest families living in the ODSS areas, and their overburden of morbidity and mortality. We then describe the process leading vulnerable families to poorer health outcomes: poor individuals are more exposed to sicknesses (housing conditions, nutrition, a fewer preventive health behaviors), they have a lower access to health care, and have weaker support systems to face sicknesses. For each of these proximate factors of health, we appraise the respective negative impact of economic deprivation, lack of education and rural socialization.