Epidémiolgie - Santé Publique (Epidemiology - Public Health) - COVID4P : Analyse de la relation entre pauvreté, pollution, prévention et progression du CoViD-19 au Burkina Faso COVID4P: An investigation of the relationship between poverty, pollution, preventive actions and the progression of CoViD-19 in Burkina Faso

This project investigates the determinants of CoViD-19 transmission in Burkina Faso with a focus on behavioural and environmental factors. We exploit a baseline survey conducted among 800 households in three cities of the Southern Central region three months before the CoViD-19 epidemic to understand how the risk of contracting the disease is affected by an individual's access to information on preventive actions, by the household's budget constraint and by exposure to air pollution (PM2.5). To shed light on this relationship, we will conduct a randomized experiment in which an information treatment aimed at addressing informational market failures will be cross-randomized with unconditional cash transfers designed to incentivize households to adopt preventive actions (regular handwashing, wearing face masks, etc). All sampled households will be re-interviewed pre and post intervention to document disease related learning processes as well as changes in preventive behaviors. Serological tests will be conducted in all adult individuals belonging to the sample after the intervention. Data on individual exposure to particulate matters collected for 550 individuals during the baseline survey at the end of 2019 will be leveraged to explore the relationship between air pollution and the incidence of severe cases of CoVid-19. The panel dataset which will be available at the end of the study will significantly contribute to improving our understanding of the reach of the CoViD-19 epidemic in Burkina Faso and will inform public health and environmental policies aimed at containing future outbreaks of coronavirus.