Senegalese President Macky Sall, speaking at a meeting with “bajenu gox” (neighborhood godmothers), said on Monday that the health of mothers and children is constantly improving in Senegal, giving the example of maternal mortality, which fell from 396 deaths to 236 per hundred thousand live births between 2012 and 2017.
In this context, Mr. Sall indicated that infant and child mortality had been reduced between 2012 and 2019 from 65 deaths to 37 deaths per thousand live births. Similarly, neonatal mortality has fallen from 26 deaths to 21 deaths per thousand live births.
According to statistics from the latest demographic and health surveys conducted in Senegal, the contraceptive prevalence rate rose from 12% to 25.5% over the same period.
On this occasion, Mr. Sall praised Senegal’s sound health policy, which places it second in Africa in terms of maternal and child health, behind Cape Verde.
According to Mr. Sall, these successes can be explained by several initiatives, including the densification of the health map, the improvement in demand through free care for children under five, free cesarean sections, and free registration in mutual health insurance schemes for beneficiaries of the family security grant scheme.