More about Burkina Faso

Like many of you, I know very little about Africa and the many countries that exist on this continent. If you're like me, you've probably lumped them in to one of two groups; the very poor and those in conflict.  For several reasons, my guess is we could all probably name more of the states in conflict than  we could those that are struggling for survival.  That's not right.

Burkina Faso is landlocked and surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest. The capital is Ouagadougou (Wa-ga-du-gu). It's size is 274k sq km (106k sq mi) with an estimated population of more than ~15 million.

The Sahel, is the wide strip of land that separates the desert sands of the Sahara from the less arid southern savannas.  It contains some of the poorest countries in the world: The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite statistic of life expectancy, education, and income indices to rank countries into four tiers of human development.  Burkina Faso ranks 177 of 182.

In Burkina Faso, 166 children in every 1,000 die before reaching the age of five (at home the corresponding figure is 6). The infant mortality rate (IMR) is the number of deaths of infants under one year old per 1,000 live births. The infant mortality rate of the world is 42.09 according to the CIA World Factbook. Estimates for 2012 have Burkina Faso ranked at 214 out of 222. 


Burkina Faso is one of the world's poorest countries. On the United Nations Development Programme's 2011 human development index, it ranks 181 out of 187 countries. More than half of the population lives on less than US$1.25/day.  Over 45% of the population is below age 14 while primary school attendance is less than 65% and secondary school enrollment is less than 20%. Less than 29% of the population is literate.


But here is the interesting thing,  Burkina Faso is ranked, in many studies, as the third poorest country in the world yet according to 2012 Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG) it has ranked 18th.  Furthermore look what's happening, according to the World Bank, through sustained efforts and investment:

• Infant mortality fell from 107 deaths to 81 deaths per 1,000 live births (DHS, 2003) and continued its downturn to 65 deaths per 1,000 live births (DHS, 2010)
• The maternal mortality rate dropped from 484 per 100,000 live births (DHS, 1995) to 341 deaths (DHS, 2010)
• Gross primary school enrollment rose sharply from 57% in 2005 to 72.4% in 2009, 74.8% in 2010, and 77.6% in 2011

Burkina Faso is making progress toward the Millennium Development Goals too. This progress can be seen in three areas:

• People have more access to safe drinking water ― the proportion of the population using improved drinking water rose from 60 percent in 2000 to 76 percent in 2008
• HIV/AIDS is less prevalent―down from 7.2 percent in 1997 to 2 percent since 2006
• Basic education is more available―the primary school enrollment rate rose from 44.4 percent in 2000 to 74.8 percent in 2009

This is one of those places that could benefit from your generosity   Consider joining me on this adventure by continuing to read the blog posts and making a contribution.  My first few days will be focused on the identifying a traget for your generosity.  Please check back for details and a how-to-contribute.