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. 2021 Oct 20;18(21):11015.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph182111015.

"It Is Like We Are Living in a Different World": Health Inequity in Communities Surrounding Industrial Mining Sites in Burkina Faso, Mozambique, and Tanzania

Andrea Leuenberger  1   2 , Olga Cambaco  1   2   3 , Hyacinthe R Zabré  1   2   4 , Isaac Lyatuu  1   2   5 , Jürg Utzinger  1   2 , Khátia Munguambe  3   6 , Sonja Merten  1   2 , Mirko S Winkler  1   2
Affiliations

"It Is Like We Are Living in a Different World": Health Inequity in Communities Surrounding Industrial Mining Sites in Burkina Faso, Mozambique, and Tanzania

Andrea Leuenberger et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Health equity features prominently in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, yet there are wide disparities in health between and within countries. In settings of natural resource extraction (e.g., industrial mines), the health of surrounding communities is affected through myriad changes in the physical, social, and economic environment. How changes triggered by such projects translate into health inequities is poorly understood.

Methods: This qualitative study explores potential layers of inequities by systematically coding perceived inequities of affected communities. Drawing on the framework method, we thematically analyzed data from 83 focus group discussions, which enrolled 791 participants from 10 study sites in Burkina Faso, Mozambique, and Tanzania.

Results: Participants perceived inequities related to their individual characteristics, intermediate factors acting on the community level, and structural conditions. Due to environmental pollution and land loss, participants were concerned about unsecured livelihoods. Positive impacts, such as job opportunities at the mine, remained scarce for local communities and were claimed not to be equally distributed among community members.

Conclusion: Extractive industries bear considerable risks to widen existing health gaps. In order to create equal opportunities among affected populations, the wider determinants of health must be considered more explicitly in the licensing process of resource extraction projects.

Keywords: Sustainable Development Goals; community-based research; equity; extractive industries; focus group discussion; health impact assessment; social determinants of health; sub-Saharan Africa.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Overview of study sites in three African countries, indicating location, the type of mining project, and the number of focus group discussions (FGDs) conducted.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Qualitative tree maps indicating the proportion of coded references (and absolute number in brackets) of perceived inequities and the consistency of findings across countries (FGD: focus group discussion).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Layers of social determinants of health. Contrasting layers of inequities from the original model (Dahlgren and Whitehead, 1991; left) and expanded model based on the perception of communities affected by industrial mining projects (our own data; right).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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