Bouza Department

Bouza
Department
Bouza Department location in the region
Country	Niger
Region	Tahoua Region
Departmental	Bouza
Area
• Total	3,777 km2 (1,458 sq mi)
Population (2011)
• Total	386,093
Time zone	GMT 1 (UTC+1)

Bouza is a department of the Tahoua Region in Niger. Its capital lies at the city of Bouza, and also includes the town of Déoulé. As of 2011, the department had a total population of 386,093 people.^[1]

Culture and situation

Bouza Department is in a largely Hausa speaking area, which has become in the last century an area of marginal agriculture. There are also populations of Fula and Tuareg peoples who traditionally engage in nomadic and semi-nomadic animal husbandry: the Fula Woadabe with cattle and the Turaeg largely with camel. The major highway of the region, completed in the 1970s, bypassed Bouza to the west, heading south from Regional capitol Tahoua to the large southern city of Birni-N'Konni near the Nigerian border. The major (unpaved) road in the area -- RN16 runs through Bouza town from Madaoua to the south to Keita in the north, before reaching Tahoua in the northwest of the Region.^[2]

Soil degradation, desertification, and poverty have meant that much of the young male population are involved in seasonal work outside the area, either in the south, Niamey, in other areas of West or North Africa. One side effect of this has left areas of Bouza Department vulnerable to HIV transmission. International Red Cross and Care International studies refer to one area of the department as the "Valley of the Widows", so high is the rate of young male mortality from HIV - AIDS.^[3] Because of the poverty of the area, Bouza region was especially hard hit in the 2005 Niger food crisis,^[4] and has been reported as a center of ongoing Cholera^[5] and childhood malnutrition.^[6]

References

v t e Regions and Departments of Niger Capital: Niamey in Niamey Capital District Agadez Region Arlit Department Bilma Department Tchirozerine Department Diffa Region Diffa Department Mainé-Soroa Department N'guigmi Department Dosso Region Boboye Department Dogondoutchi Department Dosso Department Gaya Department Loga Department Maradi Region Aguie Department Dakoro Department Guidan Roumdji Department Madarounfa Department Mayahi Department Tessaoua Department Tahoua Region Abalak Department Birni-N'Konni Department Bouza Department Illela Department Keita Department Madaoua Department Tahoua Department Tchintabaraden Department Tillabéri Region Filingue Department Kollo Department Ouallam Department Say Department Téra Department Tillabéri Department Zinder Region Goure Department Magaria Department Matameye Department Mirriah Department Tanout Department

Coordinates: 14°25′N 6°02′E / 14.417°N 6.033°E / 14.417; 6.033