Tribute to Pierre Cantrelle | IRD website

Pierre Cantrelle was a “pioneer of African demography” (this title was kindly awarded to him on the occasion of the African Demography Conference in Ouagadougou in January 1975). He began his career in 1954 as a doctor, nutritionist and anthropologist at IFAN (Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire) in Dakar, Senegal. Then he participated in the very first demographic operations set up by INSEE-Cooperation (Guinea, Upper Volta, Dahomey). He conducted the MISOES survey (Socio-economic Mission of the Senegal River) in 1957-1958, a pioneering, multidisciplinary, demographic and health survey, 30 years before the EDS/DHS surveys. This survey aimed to collect precise demographic data (mortality, fertility, causes of death), epidemiological data (measles, malaria, tropical diseases) and nutritional data (anthropometry, diet). Then in 1963 he installed demographic monitoring in Niakhar and Paos-Koto, a “repeated survey”, subsequently reduced to Ngayokheme and Ndemene, which was the origin of the Niakhar population laboratory. He participated in the testing of the first vaccines against measles, a disease that he had identified as an important cause of death during the MISOES investigation. A tireless researcher, he published numerous articles (127 in the Horizon database) for more than 60 years (1959-2021), gave demography courses in several universities, supervised numerous theses, and inspired numerous demographers and nutritionists . He left a deep memory among his Senegalese friends, and 20 years after his departure from Dakar people were still talking about him and his action for the development of the newly independent country, for civil status in rural areas, and for research. demographic.

Very affected in recent years by the death of his wife and two sons, he held on until the end, and remained a warm and cheerful friend throughout his life. Following the celebrations of Niakhar’s 50th birthday, a film was dedicated to him at the IRD, entitled “Conversation with Pierre Cantrelle”, directed in 2013 by Doris Bonnet, with the collaboration of Bernard Surugue.