Disparités spatiales de mortalité infanto-juvénile à Ouagadougou

• Main Author: Bassiahi Abdramane Soura
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille 2009-01-01
• Series: Espace populations sociétés
• Subjects: child; mortality; Ouagadougou; spatial difference
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/eps/3996
• ISSN: 0755-7809; 2104-3752

While many studies have been conducted on child mortality in the developing world, few have investigated its spatial inequalities. Even when there is works on this subject, they tend to compare regions within a country rather than neighbourhoods within a city. Focusing in Ouagadougou (capital of Burkina Faso), this study aims to analyze the levels and trends in spatial inequalities of child mortality, using the Burkina Faso 1985 and 1996 censuses. We try to explain differences in mortality using statistical methods and contextual information. The results show centre/periphery differences in mortality in the mid 1980s, outlying areas of the city having the highest mortality levels. At that time, the spatial differences in mortality were related to the population density in neighbourhoods and the socio-economic status of the inhabitants : for example, residents of outlying areas were very poorly educated with higher mortality. In 1996 on the other hand, the centre/periphery differences disappeared, making way for heterogeneous mortality distribution. The social mix within sectors, which was certainly more marked in 1996 made it impossible to establish statistical relationships between community characteristics and spatial inequalities in mortality. The changes observed in mortality over the period studied were mainly due to changes in the educational attainment of women in some areas, changes in the proportion of women born in Ouagadougou, improvements in community hygiene, and the provision of essential social services like water and electricity, especially in outlying areas that are becoming denser.