Why Do Children Die More Often in Informal Neighborhoods? The Case of Ouagadougou

Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, is currently experiencing rapid population growth. Since 2008, the Ouagadougou Health and Demographic Surveillance System follows 80,000 people living in five neighborhoods on the periphery of the city, half of them living in poor, informal settlements. In this analysis, we study the social disparities characterizing the risk of dying before age five in these areas as well as the social differentials of associated risk factors. We find that children who are born to uneducated and poor parents are twice as likely to die as their counterparts, likely because they have worse access to both preventive and curative health care. Young children living in informal areas are also twice as likely to die compared to others because, everything else being equal, they are more often ill, more often malnourished, and less likely to receive medical care; these outcomes seem all related to the unsanitary environment.