Violent mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa – levels, trends and causes in rural Senegal

Gilles Pison, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)
Géraldine Duthé, Institut national d'études démographiques (INED)
Adama Marra, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)
Jean-Philippe Chippaux, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)

We have measured the level of violent mortality, its trends and causes in three rural sites in Senegal – Bandafassi, Niakhar and Mlomp, whose populations have been under continuous demographic surveillance for many years. As the observation methods are similar, the estimates are comparable between the three sites. Violent mortality much varies from one site to another, both in absolute levels and relative ones (proportions of total deaths which are violent ones). The variations are related to the differences of environment and activities, and also of accessibility of health services. The causes of death – traffic accidents, homicide, suicide, falling, drowning, animal bites, etc. – vary also significantly from one site to another. At the end of the paper we estimate the level of violent mortality for the whole rural population of the country and compare it to current WHO estimates for similar populations.