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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
Population distribution, settlement patterns and accessibility across Africa in 2010
PLoS ONE, Volume 7, No. 2, Article e31743, Year 2012
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Description
The spatial distribution of populations and settlements across a country and their interconnectivity and accessibility from urban areas are important for delivering healthcare, distributing resources and economic development. However, existing spatially explicit population data across Africa are generally based on outdated, low resolution input demographic data, and provide insufficient detail to quantify rural settlement patterns and, thus, accurately measure population concentration and accessibility. Here we outline approaches to developing a new high resolution population distribution dataset for Africa and analyse rural accessibility to population centers. Contemporary population count data were combined with detailed satellite-derived settlement extents to map population distributions across Africa at a finer spatial resolution than ever before. Substantial heterogeneity in settlement patterns, population concentration and spatial accessibility to major population centres is exhibited across the continent. In Africa, 90% of the population is concentrated in less than 21% of the land surface and the average per-person travel time to settlements of more than 50,000 inhabitants is around 3.5 hours, with Central and East Africa displaying the longest average travel times. The analyses highlight large inequities in access, the isolation of many rural populations and the challenges that exist between countries and regions in providing access to services. The datasets presented are freely available as part of the AfriPop project, providing an evidence base for guiding strategic decisions. © 2012 Linard et al.
Available Materials
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC3283664/bin/pone.0031743.s001.tif
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC3283664/bin/pone.0031743.s002.doc
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC3283664/bin/pone.0031743.s003.doc
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC3283664/bin/pone.0031743.s004.xls
Authors & Co-Authors
Linard, Catherine
United Kingdom, Oxford
University of Oxford
Belgium, Brussels
Université Libre de Bruxelles
Gilbert, Marius
Belgium, Brussels
Université Libre de Bruxelles
Belgium, Brussels
Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique - Fnrs
Snow, Robert William
Kenya, Nairobi
Wellcome Trust Research Laboratories Nairobi
United Kingdom, Oxford
Nuffield Department of Medicine
Noor, Abdisalan Mohamed
Kenya, Nairobi
Wellcome Trust Research Laboratories Nairobi
Tatem, Andrew J.
United States, Gainesville
University of Florida
United States, Bethesda
National Institutes of Health Nih
Statistics
Citations: 570
Authors: 5
Affiliations: 7
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1371/journal.pone.0031743
e-ISSN:
19326203
Research Areas
Genetics And Genomics
Health System And Policy
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study
Study Locations
Multi-countries