The impact of environmental threats on the occurrence of respiratory illnesses in children: evidence in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)

Stéphanie Dos Santos, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) et Institut Superieur des Sciences de la Population (ISSP)
Franklin Bouba Djourdebbé, Université de Montréal
Bassiahi Abdramane Soura, Université de Ouagadougou

Acute respiratory infections are the leading cause of mortality in children 5 years or younger in Africa. Many of the formative studies provided correlations between respiratory infections in children and indoor air pollution. However, few population-based studies in African cities have specifically investigated the relationship between respiratory illnesses and environmental living conditions using models that control for confounders, allowing for the study all things being equal. The aim of this communication is to address this shortcoming and to analyze the impact of a large range of environmental threats at the household level on the occurrence of respiratory illnesses in children under 5 years of age in Ouagadougou, the capital city of Burkina Faso. Preliminary results show that, as expected, the energy used for cooking has an important impact on the occurrence of cough in children. However, there are other environmental living conditions at the household level that also affect the occurrence of respiratory illnesses in children.