"These issues remain a major concern for the government considering its key role in the
economic and social development of a nation and refer to the third operational phase
of the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (SCRP 2011-2015) entitled: "Building
Human Capital". In addition, in a perspective of vision 2025 of Benin as an emerging
country, it is clear that children under 5 years of today are the backbone of the nation
of tomorrow and singularly the productive portion of the country. High child mortality is
not only a violation of their right to a life, but also would compromises the evolution
toward this vision and beyond. This path to progress that would need certainly more
commitment and efficiency in the health sector management, is not that
corresponding to the central scenario (the most optimistic) defined in the SCRP III
whose term matches that of the MDGs. Indeed, according to the central scenario of
SCRP III, budget resources allocated to the health sector on the period 2011-2015
would represent an average of 13.4% of the global budget. This allocation could help
to reach an infant/child mortality rate of 74.3‰, versus 65‰ which is the MDGs'
target.
The situation of 2013 presented by the Health Statistics Yearbook:
Table N°6: Perinatal Mortality by Health Zone in 2013
Early Neonatal Deaths (Infant deaths <7 days
Department/Health Zone
Living Births
Stillborn
babies
Nb
More Stillborn
b
a
b
i
e
s
Rate for 1000
L
B
s
Ratio for 1000
L
B
s
Ratio for 1000
L
B
s
a
n
d
S
ti
ll
b
o
r
n
b
a
b
i
e
s
Alibori
26,080
633
139
772
5.3
29.6
28.9
Atacora
27,097
548
115
663
4.2
24.5
24.0
Atlantique
35,905
630
173
803
4.8
22.4
22.0
Borgou
38,839
853
362
1,215
9.3
31.3
30.6
Collines
20,286
481
109
590
5.4
29.1
28.4
Couffo
18,075
425
128
553
7.1
30.6
29.9
Donga
17,627
276
73
349
4.1
19.8
19.5
Littoral
33,326
1,042
432
1,474
13.0
44.2
42.9
Mono
16,386
493
120
613
7.3
37.4
36.3
Ouémé
34,982
842
366
1,208
10.5
34.5
33.7
Plateau
14,846
508
66
574
4.4
38.7
37.4
Zou
25,373
398
129
527
5.1
20.8
20.4
Benin
308,822
7,129
2,212
9,341
7.2
30.2
29.6