COVID-19 Impact Monitoring Burkina Faso at the household level Bulletin No.1 — August 2020 KEY MESSAGES • Majority of respondents have a good knowledge of social distanc- Confirmed Cases of COVID-19 Burkina Faso ing and preventive measures against Covid-19; • About 1 in 4 households reports that at some point during covid- 19, they were unable to access basic food; • A high proportion (9 in 10) of students remain intellectually active during the Covid-19. They are leveraging mainly on ICT (53.4%); • The vast majority of those who needed health services were able to get treatment, a sign that there was no disruption; • Around 10% of respondents used to work before the Covid-19 outbreak but are not working now; 54 Deaths 995 Recovered • The economic slowdown due to the COVID-19 has translated in Source: INSD (as of August 9th, 2020) an economywide reduction of income. BACKGROUND AND KNOWLEDGE OF COVID-19 • Background This brief presents findings from the first round of a nationally repre- sentative High Frequency Phone Survey (HFPS) of households. Data collection took place between June 9th and July 1st, 2020. The HFPS sample is based on the 2018/19 Harmonized Living Conditions Household Survey (EHCVM) implemented in 2018 by the National Statistical Office (NSO) with technical and financial support from the World Bank. The HFPS was administered to a sample of 2,062 households. Phone surveys were successfully completed for 1,968 households for a response rate of 82.5 percent. Sampling weights were adjusted to make sure that the surveyed sample remains nation- ally representative. The survey questionnaire was designed to cover important and relevant topics, including knowledge of Covid -19 and social behavior, access to food and basic services, impact of the Covid-19 on economic activities and income sources. • Knowledge of Covid-19 and social behavior Most respondents have good knowledge of preventive measures and recommended social behaviors that one must adopt to reduce the risk of infection with coronavirus. Irrelevant of location and poverty status, each of the measure is name by more than eight out of ten respond- ents. Moreover, respondents have adopted these preventives measures and they are washing their hands frequently, voiding hand- shaking, and avoiding gatherings of more than 10 people. However, there is room for further sensitization in order to enhance adoption of preventive measures. More specifically a significant proportion of those living in Ouagadougou (9.9%) are not avoiding gathering of 10 people or more. Respondents are not aware of all actions taken by authorities to curb the spread of the virus. The Government of Burkina Faso has intro- duced several measures to curb the spread of the Covid-19. Howev- er, respondents are not fully aware of all these actions. Only four ac- tions are named by the majority: closure of markets, yaars, restau- rants and bars; closure of places of worship; curfew/lockdown; and ban on gathering of 50 people or more. 1 Burkina Faso • COVID-19 IMPACT MONITORING ACCESS TO FOOD AND BASIC SERVICES The Covid-19 seems to have had an impact on availability of food. About 1 in 4 households reports that at some point during covid-19, they were unable to access key staple food. A higher proportion of poor (29.6%) reported difficulties accessing food, compared to non-poor (21.5%). Unavailability of staple foods was driving mainly by maize (grain or flour), particularly in the southern part of Burkina Faso. Given schools closure to reduce risk of contagion, a high pro- portion (87.6%) of students remain intellectually active. They are leveraging mainly on ICT (53.4%). Location and poverty status do matter in the way students engage in learning activities. Those in Ouagadougou are more likely to rely on tutoring by another family member; and those in other urban/rural areas are more likely to do nothing or to rely on radio. The use of TV is more pronounced in urban areas. Non-poor students are more likely to rely on TV, tutoring by another family member, and pri- vate tutor. Despite a need for social distancing, some students (15%) are maintaining a physical relationship with their teacher. Despite the Covid-19, most households (49.1%) declared that they were able to buy medicine; however, 1 in 4 households were unable to do so. Since March 16 th, 2 in 5 households de- clared that they needed health service, mainly because of ma- laria/fever. The vast majority of those who needed services were able to get treatment, a sign that there was no major dis- ruption in the provision of health services. A combination of sup- ply and demand factors affect ability to access health services when needed; but affordability represents the biggest constraint, especially for the poor. EMPLOYMENT AND INCOME The lockdown implemented was only partial, as a re- sult, the majority was able to work as usual. About 80 percent of respondents were able to continue working while only 10.7 percent of the respondents that used to work before the Covid - 19 outbreak are no longer working. Among those who stopped working, around 40 percent reported that it was due to the sea- sonality of their activity and 28 percent reported that it was di- rectly due to Covid-19. The economic slowdown due to the Covid-19 has translated in an economywide reduction of income; most employees, non- farm businesses owners and farmers have experienced a re- duction of income. Employees who were not able to work as usual were directly affected as they were not paid. Majority of non-farm businesses (72.5%) experienced a reduction of in- come. Closure due to Covid-19 and lack of customer are the main reasons for the lower income of non-farm businesses. Most farmers (90.1%) are having difficulties in their activities mainly due to seasonality and Covid-19 related restrictions. Half of farmers reports a reduction of farm gate prices. WFP reported in April that food items prices were stable despite in- crease in transport costs. There is a possible transmission of increase transport costs to farmers. It means the way Covid -19 affects prices along the value chain will mainly harms farmers. About 1 in 5 households used to receive remittances from fami- ly/friends, for most, the amount received, and the frequency of the transfers have reduced since the Covid-19 outbreak. This brief was prepared by Clarence Tsimpo Nkengne, Marco Tiberti, Nga Thi Viet Nguyen, and Prospere Backiny - Yetna from the World Bank, Zakaria Koncobo, and Lucien Belemkoabga from the INSD, and Adama Tiendrebeogo from the WAEMU Commission. The team benefitted from useful advice and comments from Christophe Rockmore. The report was prepared with guidance from Soukeyna Kane, Maimouna Mbow Fam, Kofi Nouve, Andrew Dabalen, Boureima Ouedraogo. For further details on the data, visit http://surveys.worldbank.org/covid-19 or http://www.insd.bf/ 2