Based on the demographic and health surveys of Burkina Faso of 1992-93 and 1998-99, present study has for principal objective to clarify the factors of the dynamics of the rates of child survival during this period, and the relations which prevail between the latter and poverty. It arrives to three conclusions. Firstly, in Burkina Faso, in spite of the steady economic growth of the 1990s, the maintenance of a model of high mortality is probably in relation with the persistence of poverty. Secondly, the econometric estimate of the determinants of infant and child survival suggests several elements, relatively commun in the two periods of the DHS: (i) standard of living of the households in terms of assets; (ii) education of the parents, in particular of the mother ;(iii) geographical localization of the households; (iv) community factors, for example, the childbirth assisted by qualified persons; (v) characteristics of the mother and the births: age of the mothers during the birth, interval intergenesic, births multiple and rank of the birth. Thirdly, the decomposition of the variation – weak – rates of child survival during the period induces two lessons. On the one hand, the evolution of the rates of child survival between the two dates is explained mainly by the variation of the coefficients – describing a combination of the behaviors and environment – with samples constant –, compared to a modification of the configuration of the samples – structure of the population - with constant coefficients. In addition, the analysis highlights several parameters at the origin of the most significant changes in terms of survival: (i) variation of the coefficients related to poverty; (ii) characteristics of the births: rank of the births, interval intergenesic and community variables. In these conditions, to reduce the child mortality – much higher in this country than the average of sub-Saharan Africa –, requires to strengthen the policies attacking poverty, and to promote a better access of the women to the education and the basic social services, a challenge particularly difficult to take up, considering the multiple constraints which prevail. (Full text in French)
