Socioeconomic Development Chapter 6 Chapter 6 decline of 27 per cent between 1990 and 2006. Besides, the antimeasles vaccine coverage rate increased by 21 per cent, from 76.1 per cent to 92.4 per cent. 882. 883. Objective 6: Combat HIV/AIDS and malaria. The situation in Mauritius seems to be quite good, according to the CSAR. However, it does emphasise that condom use, as a contraceptive or as a method of preventing the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and other sexually transmitted diseases, is low. Malaria has been completely eradicated in Mauritius. 884. Mauritius is a risk-free malaria zone. The number of deaths caused by malaria is zero. 885. Objective 7: Ensure environmental sustainability. Access to potable water and to primary health care is close to 100 per cent in both rural and urban areas. Nearly nine-tenths of people own their houses. 886. Objective 8: Develop a global partnership for development. Mauritius’s performance in achieving this objective has worsened, especially for women. This is true for the development and implementation of strategies to create productive and decent jobs for the youth. It is also true for the unemployment situation, particularly among the youth. Performance is variable in access to new technologies for information and communication. The penetration rate for mobile phones has increased significantly. The number of subscribers was 614.8 for every 1000 inhabitants in 2006, increasing to 804.4 per 1000 in 2009. With regard to access to computers and the Internet, Mauritius is improving its level of connectivity. There were 223.8 subscribers to the Internet for every 1000 people in 2009, a marked improvement from 114.2 per 1000 in 2006. 887. 306 Objective 5: Improve maternal health. Mauritius has reached target 6 for maternal mortality thanks to a reduction of 75 per cent in the mortality rate during the same period. In addition, the number of deliveries supervised by qualified health personnel (that is, doctors and nurses or midwives) in hospitals and private clinics has improved considerably. It is close to 100 per cent. The CSAR makes a number of recommendations. It proposes improving the coordination and cohesion of programmes intended for the poor in order to fight poverty. With regard to retirement plans, it proposes to sponsor an in-depth study on the basic retirement plan Socioeconomic Development in order to define its strategy for the ageing population clearly. With regard to salary policy, it proposes the introduction of a minimum salary and more favourable salary compensations for people earning low salaries as well as a review of the mechanism for appointing members of the National Wage Council (NPC) to make the institution more autonomous, independent and transparent. ii. Findings of the CRM 888. This section discusses the findings on the acceleration and sustainability of socioeconomic development. Accelerating socioeconomic development 889. With regard to accelerating socioeconomic development, Mauritius has registered, since the beginning of 2000, a significant slowdown in its growth rate. It averaged about 4.0 per cent between 2001 and 2009, compared with more than 5.5 per cent in the 1990s. The significant decline in the textile and sugar sectors is one of the reasons for this. The Mauritian public authorities therefore developed and started implementing a highly ambitious investment plan for 2009 to 2013, intended to improve the basic infrastructure and prepare for new development sectors. The objective of this plan is to move to a new stage where the economy of Mauritius is no longer based on the labour-intensive sugar and textile sectors staffed by unqualified workers. Instead, the objective is to move to higher-level services that use qualified workers and, therefore, generate strong growth. Sustainable development 890. The objective of the sustainable development plan is to ensure the sustainable development of the country. The emphasis is on île verte, Maurice, Ile Durable. These are concepts that should be analysed in detail and organised into several components. They are also part of the investment plan that was launched by a set of energy production projects that hoped to ensure that energy comes from renewable sources. The international financial community was approached. It pledged to contribute to this plan. It should enable Mauritius to absorb the effects of the shocks of terminating the MFAs and the preferences in the sugar sector as well as the recent economic and financial crisis and to build a new economy. 307