Toward a Socio-Territorial Approach to Health: Health Equity in West Africa

Lucie Vialard, Clara Squiban, Gilles Riveau, Emmanuel Hermann, Doudou Diop, Florence Fournet, Gérard Salem and Ellen E. Foley
Additional contact information
Lucie Vialard: Laboratoire Dynamiques Sociales et Recomposition des Espaces (LADYSS), Université Paris Ouest Nanterre, 92000 Nanterre, France
Clara Squiban: Laboratoire Dynamiques Sociales et Recomposition des Espaces (LADYSS), Université Paris Ouest Nanterre, 92000 Nanterre, France
Gilles Riveau: Biomedical Research Center EPLS, BP 226, Saint-Louis, Senegal
Emmanuel Hermann: Institut Pasteur of Lille, University of Lille, CNRS, Inserm, CHU Lille, Institut Pasteur de Lille, U1019-UMR 8204-CIIL-Center for Infection and Immunity of Lille, F-59000 Lille, France
Doudou Diop: Biomedical Research Center EPLS, BP 226, Saint-Louis, Senegal
Florence Fournet: Unité Mixte de Recherche Maladies Infectieuses et Vecteurs: Ecologie, Génétique, Evolution et Contrôle (MIVEGEC), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, 34394 Montpellier, France
Gérard Salem: Laboratoire Dynamiques Sociales et Recomposition des Espaces (LADYSS), Université Paris Ouest Nanterre, 92000 Nanterre, France
Ellen E. Foley: International Development and Social Change, IDCE, Clark University, Worcester, MA 01610, USA

IJERPH, 2017, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-23

Abstract: This study contributes to the literature about the effects of space and place on health by introducing a socio-territorial approach to urban health disparities in West Africa. It explores how urban spaces, specifically neighbourhoods, are shaped by social and economic relations and strategies of territorial control. We examine the potential influence of socio-territorial processes on vulnerability to disease, access to medical care, healthscapes, and illness experiences. Our research was conducted in Senegal and relied on a mixed methods design. We identified four neighbourhoods that represent the socio-spatial heterogeneity of the city of Saint-Louis and utilized the following methods: geographic and anthropological field research, household surveys, health knowledge and behaviour surveys, clinical exams, and illness interviews. Our results highlight the socio-territorial processes at work in each neighbourhood, clinical findings on three health measures (overweight, high blood pressure, and hyperglycaemia) and health experiences of individuals with hypertension or type II diabetes. We found significant differences in the prevalence of the three health measures in the study sites, while experiences managing hypertension and diabetes were similar. We conclude that a socio-territorial approach offers insight into the complex constellation of forces that produce health disparities in urban settings.

Keywords: socio-territorial approach; health disparities; hypertension; diabetes; urban health; West Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/1/106/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/1/106/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:14:y:2017:i:1:p:106-:d:88483

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().