CHILD-MORTALITY IN TOWNS AND VILLAGES IN THE SAHEL REGION

Over the last 40 years, health conditions have both improved and deter iorated in Third-World cities. In the 1950s and 1960s, urban areas wer e privileged places to live in as regards to health. Since then, the v ery rapid population growth in many cities has often not been matched by an adequate expansion of sanitation and health services. Cities, an d especially the poorer unzoned neighborhoods, have become synonymous with precarious and unhealthy living conditions. In this paper, we beg in by defining a conceptual framework to study the health of children by place of residence We then use data from Child Mortality Surveys in the Sahel (EMIS), conducted in the towns of Bamako and Bobo-Dioulasso and in a rural area in Senegal, to ascertain whether cities remain ad vantaged in terms of health. Mortality is found to be higher among you ng rural children, especially during the second year of life, even whe n compared to that in underprivileged urban neighborhoods. However, on the whole, the estimated effects of individual and household characte ristics on children's survival are very similar in cities and in rural areas.