Burkina Faso has high disease burdens for HIV, malaria and tuberculosis. A poor surveillance network makes it difficult to judge the extent of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Burkina Faso. The United Nations Development Program estimates that the HIV-positive rate among adults is as high as 10 percent. More conservatively, at the Barcelona conference in 2002 UNAIDS estimated a 6.5 percent infection rate for Burkina Faso.

Malaria accounts for 35 percent of hospitalizations and 25 percent of deaths in the country. WHO estimates that TB prevalence rate in Burkina Faso at 261 per 100,000 population and the TB death rate at 63 per 100,000.

Sources: BBC country profile, CIA World Factbook, IRIN, United Nations Statistical Division

Burkina Faso has developed a national strategic framework for combatting HIV/AIDS, and its plan is costed at $105 million for 2001-2005. There is a financial gap of about $40 million preventing full implementation of the plan.

Burkina Faso has fully implemented DOTS treatment for tuberculosis in all areas.

In summer 2002 Burkina Faso launched an anti-malaria campaign in conjunction with the global Roll Back Malaria initiative. The three year campaign is budgeted at $1 million (US), and aims to provide treatment to 60 percent of malaria victims within 24 hours of onset of symptoms.

Burkina Faso has implemented a DOTS program that in 2000 covered about 61 percent of all TB patients.

The WHO estimates that four percent of Burkina Faso's GDP is spent on health care; this amounts to a per capita health expenditure of $32 (PPP).

Sources: IRIN, WHO, United Nations Statistical Division, UNAIDS WHO 2004 Report: Global Tuberculosis Control

Demographic data contained in this section was obtained from the following sources: The Population Reference Bureau’s 2009 World Population Data Sheet was used for total population, life expectancy at birth, infant mortality, fertility, birth rate, death rate, % of married women 15-49 using modern methods of contraception, % of population 15-49 with HIV/AIDS in 2007/2008, and the GNI PPP per capita (2008). Literacy rates were found in the Population Reference Bureau’s publication 2005 Women of Our World. HIV prevalence data for 2001 and 2003 was obtained from the UNAIDS Barcelona 2002 report; HIV prevalence and orphan data for 2005 was obtained from the UNAIDS Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic 2006. Data on the % women who have discussed AIDS prevention with their husband or partner can be found in ORC Macro and USAID’s Women’s Lives and Experiences: Changes in the Past Ten Years (Research Findings from the Demographic and Health Surveys). Childhood malaria mortality data was accessed in 2003 from the United Nations Statistics Divisions’ Millennium Indicators. Tuberculosis data was obtained from the United Nations Statistics Division’s Millennium Indicators: MDGInfo 2006. In some cases information was unavailable.

Yalgado Ouedraogo Hospital (sometimes Yalgado National Hospital) in Ouagadougou, and Souro Sanou in Bobo-Dioulasso, are the premiere hospitals in the country. Ten regional hospitals, 72 medical centers, 628 health centers, 132 dispensaries and 16 maternities complete the health infrastructure in Burkina Faso.

Sources: WHO, Embassy of Burkina Faso, IPPF; AllAfrica.com

African Malaria Vaccine Testing Network (AMVTN), Muraz Center (MC)

African Malaria Vaccine Testing Network (AMVTN), Centre National de Lutte contre le Paludisme (CNLP)

Ecole Superieure des Sciences de la Sante

Ouagadougou University Hospital

Source: National Geographic

Yalgado Ouedraogo Hospital

1. ESTHER, a European AIDS initiative launched in Rome in 2002 with support from France, Italy, Luxembourg and Spain, aims to build partnerships between European hospitals and health care systems in the developing world. Burkina Faso is one of the nations in which ESTHER plans to begin its work.

   Source: ESTHER Network fact sheet