Bulletin de la Société de pathologie exotique (1990)
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Bull Soc Pathol Exot · Aug 2003
[Influence of urban migration on physical activity, nutritional status and growth of Senegalese adolescents of rural origin].
In Africa, rural populations especially adolescent girls resort to urban migrations for labour in order to diversify and improve their livelihood. Their work and their living conditions may influence their health and development patterns. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of these migrations on physical activity, nutritional and growth status of rural Senegalese adolescent girls. ⋯ At the beginning of puberty, there were no differences in height for age indice and BMI. Urban migrations resulted in an advanced puberty and an improvement of nutritional status (higher BMI, FMI and midarm circumference) but without catch-up in growth. These findings could be explained by precarious living conditions in rural area and by higher workload in urban area.