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UNFPA at work in Burkina Faso |
Burkina Faso, one of the poorest countries in
Africa, is in UNFPA’s "A" category, giving it priority for population
assistance. Income per capita is $220 a year. Over 80 per cent of the country’s 11
million people live in 8,000 rural villages, the overwhelming majority of the people
dependent on subsistence agriculture for their livelihoods. Agriculture accounts for 40
per cent of the country’s gross national product (GNP). Close to two-thirds of the
population suffer from recurrent malaria, which contributes to the toll of infant and
child deaths. The country’s population growth rate remains high: 2.85 per cent a year, enough to double human numbers in 25 years. Large families remain the norm: the total fertility rate—the number of children a woman is likely to have over the course of her reproductive life—is 7. An average of 97 babies die in the first year of life for every 1,000 live births recorded. Life expectancy at birth is only 46 years. All these indicators are worse than the average for West African countries. Maternal mortality is about 930 for every 100,000 live births, one of the highest rates in the world. The average population density is less than 30 per square kilometer, but most of the country is arid land suitable only for nomadic herders. Most of Burkina Faso’s 11 million people are squeezed into the agricultural area of the central Mossi plateau. Here, densities exceed 200 per square kilometer. The Mossi itself is beset by desertification. In and around the capital, Ouagadougou, a city of nearly one million inhabitants, growing populations have used up all the trees for fuel or building material, and their herds of goats and sheep have stripped the land of 10 vegetation. Without protection, the fragile soil easily breaks down and blows away. Fine, ochre-coloured dust often coats Ouagadougou’s bougainville-draped terraces. "The government is well aware that confronting population issues is of first importance if it is to deal with the environmental crisis," points out Fama Hane-Ba, UNFPA’s Representative for Burkina Faso. "For instance, educating girls as well as boys, bringing down maternal and infant mortality and increasing family planning use will bring smaller families. In the long run, that will reduce population pressures on fragile and overworked agricultural land." Fama Hane-Ba has been described by a government colleague as "the best of both worlds: a highly educated African woman who has not lost touch with her roots." Her credentials are impressive. She has worked extensively in sub-Saharan Africa since the early 1970s. From 1982 to 1992, she was the regional adviser on population education for UNESCO’s regional bureau, headquartered in Dakar, Senegal. She has been UNFPA’s Representative for Burkina Faso since July 1992. As a Mauritanian national, Fama has firm views about the region’s needs and aspirations and about how to fulfil them. "Coming to grips with population growth and uneven distribution; improving the quality of reproductive health and family planning services, and increasing access to them; and educating and empowering women are crucial for the future of the country," she says. "UNFPA plays a key role in advancing this agenda." |
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