Health

Health is a major issue here. 55% of the population is living below the poverty line resulting in poor health. Malaria, malnutrition, diarrhoea, measles, respiratory illness, limited access to medical care and doctors are the main reasons for the very high death rates (110 per 1000). 50% of all children are malnourished; the average distance to a basic clinic is 30kms.

Esta outside the baby clinic in Piela. Esta is responsible for nursing malnourished babies. It costs six pounds for a mother and her baby to stay at the clinic for two months

There is only one doctor for every 35,000 people in towns and only one per 57,300 in rural areas.

Access to clean water is very limited especially in rural areas.

Here it is being taken from a lake, hollows are scooped in
the gravel in the hope of filtering the water.

Here in Piela water is being drawn from a well
and it is open to contamination

Few villages have a borehole as these cost £5000, but provide clean water

Meningitis and AIDS are responsible for increasing numbers of deaths but insect borne diseases are still the main cause of disease. The humid south gives ideal breeding conditions for mosquitoes carrying malaria, black fly causing river blindness and tsetse flies carrying sleeping sickness. These cause death but also prolonged illness meaning farmland cannot be cultivated so families go hungry.

The World Health Organization (WHO) campaign to wipe out river blindness, which affects 20 million people worldwide including 10% of the population of Burkina Faso started in 1974 and is now almost completely successful. This is done by spraying the blackfly breeding sites and the using a new drug which should control the disease and allow people back to farm these areas. Only 0.67% GDP is currently being spent on health care in Burkina with a focus on vaccinations and primary health care. The WHO has funded a campaign against polio, which is still rife in rural areas and can devastate lives, leaving people handicapped.