The major diseases in Burkina Faso are also some of the largest killers in the world. They are incredibly dangerous, common throughout the country, and may be separated into categories as follows: food or waterborne diseases; vector-borne diseases; water contact diseases; aerosolized dust or soil contact diseases; respiratory disease and animal contact diseases. Below are the most common diseases in Burkina Faso.

Hepatitis A
This is a form of viral hepatitis. It is transmitted by food and causes jaundice and fever. Most who die from it are children aged one to four. Although the death rate from hepatitis A is Burkina Faso is lower than any other country in Western sub-Saharan Africa, it is their most dangerous food and waterborne disease.

Hepatitis E
The deadliness of this disease in Burkina Faso is most common at age 80. At this age, hepatitis E kills 4.3 out of 100,000 people. The virus targets the liver and is most commonly transmitted through the fecal-oral route.

Typhoid Fever
This is another of many diseases in Burkina Faso commonly spread through fecal-oral routes. Those infected experience high fevers and, if left untreated, mortality rates can reach 20 percent of the infected population. The annual mortality rate for typhoid fever in Burkina Faso has decreased 5 percent since 1990. It is like hepatitis A in that it mostly kills young children aged one to four.

Malaria
Malaria affects more people in Burkina Faso than in other countries of Western sub-Saharan Africa, although the mortality rate dropped 26 percent between 1990 and 2013. That decline is significant, but the death rate from Malaria decreased 49 percent in Sierra Leone and 51 percent in Gambia over the same period.

Dengue Fever
This disease is commonly spread through mosquitoes. Dengue fever is less common than it used to be, with a 52 percent decrease since 1990. It will occasionally cause shock and hemorrhage, leading to death in 5 percent of cases. While one of the less common diseases in Burkina Faso, it is still prevalent.

This is only the beginning of the list for diseases in Burkina Faso. While the country is fighting for better and stronger health care and prevention systems for these diseases, its citizens continue to die of entirely preventable causes. Burkina Faso is on its way to saving a lot of lives with their improvements in health care system, and help from countries like the United States can only help them from here.

– Rilee Pickle

Photo: Flickr