Recommendation VI. Take all the appropriate measures to increase the budget allocated for health, education, social housing and the supply of drinking water, especially in the rural communities In the area of health, the share of the budget allocated to the Ministry of Health and AIDS Control (MSLS) increased from 190 billion in 2013 to 245 billion in 2014, accounting for a 29% increase. In 2015, the budget allocated for health expenditure provided for an investment of 10.5 billion CFA francs for the establishment of an ‘’effective’’ universal health coverage (CMU) with effect from the first quarter of 2015 with ‘’ additional resources allocated for the fight against the Ebola virus disease. It must be noted that health expenditure from 2010 to 2015, increased by two and half times with 6.4% of the outlay earmarked for rehabilitation and establishment of health centres. On education, it was noted that from 2009 to 2013, the government,on the average, allocated 19% of its overall budget to the education and training sector. Over the period, total expenses in the national education sub-sector increased from 555.5 billion CFA francs to 655.9 billion CFA francs, or an average annual growth of 4.3%. Furthermore, several programmes and projects were embarked upon to rehabilitate and/or build new facilities to improve working and learning conditions in the education sector. At the national level, there is an Emergency Presidential Programme (PPU) while at the multilateral and bilateral levels, the programmes include in particular, the Institutional and Multi-sectoral Crisis Recovery Support Project (PAIMSC), the Global Education Partnership (PME) and the Japanese Cooperation. These contributions made it possible to rehabilitate and build lots of classrooms paving the way for millions of school children to go back to school. In 2015, the expenditure in the education sector increased by 1.7% to a total amount of 1006.4 billion, or about 20% of the national budget, with the aim of achieving a 100% enrollment rate by 2020. (Cf. below XVIII). With regard to social housing, Côte d’Ivoire has a structural housing deficit of 400, 000 houses. For this reason, the government has initiated a large-scale policy of building social, economical and luxurious housing units in order to bridge the gap. In 2015, the projected number of housing units was 60, 000 with 10,000 of the units located in the countryside and 50 000 around the city of Abidjan. To achieve this objective, the government has established a Formalities Facilitation Centre for Access to Social Housing (CEFFAL). But by the end of 2015, only 8,000 housing units had been completed. As a result, the housing needs remain unsolved. In the area of access to drinking water, with the efforts currently underway, the proportion of the population with sustainable access to drinking water increased from 61 % in 2008 to 73.08 % by the end of 2012. It should reach 76% in 2013. The table below presents the investments made in the supply of of drinking water in both the rural areas and urban centres. Year 2013 Human-operated pumps Number of improved village water systems Number of localities connected to urban pipeborne water systems 833 Existing facilities 17 626 262 Eligible localities 7000 1902 1194 10 575 600 1 048 000 16 660 000 Impacted population Source: Ministry of Economic Infrastructure Furthermore, the Water Distribution Company of Côte d’Ivoire (SODECI) has undertaken regular repair and maintenance works on 5000 water points in rural communities at a total cost of 9.2 billion CFA francs. 9