Nutritional Health of the Children in Senegal: A Comparative Analysis

The first decade having followed its accession to the international sovereignty in 1960, the Senegalese economy went relatively well. The economic health of the country began to only deteriorate in the 70s and the series of plans and development programs (economic and financial recovery Plan in 1979, Program of adjustment in mid-term and long-term in 1985, etc.) applied by the authorities, unfortunately did not allow to rectify the situation. It is generally admitted that the populations' health, particularly the child's is, in the same way as incomes and expenses, a good indicator to estimate the standard of living. She must therefore be the object of a global approach, in other words, it is necessary to consider it under its aspects at once biological, psychological, economical and social, at all the age stages of life, for all the individuals and in all the environments. The nutritional condition is the best world indicator of the child's well-being. But in developing countries, in spite of the global decrease of the levels of prevalence, the malnutrition still remains a major health problem (UNICEF, 1996; De Onis et al., 2000; Hatloy, 2001; World Bank, 2003). It is taking into consideration its importance that this research was interested to evaluate the nutritional state of the children having less than five years of life and to analyze its interactions with some specific characteristics to the child, the mother and the household. The analysis chose to be devoted to an exercise of comparison before/after the devaluation of the CFA franc. The comparison does not have for objective to analyze the impact of the devaluation on these indicators but to rather see the evolution of these indicators in the time, considering this important monetary shock.