Senegal Economy Profile 2012

Senegal understands the key role played by the health sector within the economy; health is indeed open to development. The State has increased the health budget up to the level recommended by the World Health Organisation, which is 9%. Today, Senegal is actually above this rate.

Various national programmes have been implemented, in cooperation with other institutions:

• Programme against malaria
• programme against AIDS, with a prevalence rate below 1%
• Reproductive health
• The expanded programme of immunisation
• Nutrition
• Other programmes (fighting against bilharziasis, blindness, leprosis, onchocerciasis, tuberculosis).

While access to health care is also improving, much progress is needed for Senegal to meet its health-related Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Though decentralisation of health care has expanded access, many Senegalese still do not receive quality primary care, with access drastically reduced in rural areas.

A certain number of national programmes have been launched to target specific public health issues, including HIV/AIDS and malaria, hospital-originated disease, and family-planning.

Unfortunately, the health care system lacks sufficient financing to address the broad needs of the population. The country also lacks medical staff, with one doctor per 14,000 inhabitants, compared to the one per 5000-10,000 inhabitants prescribed by WHO standards.

Private care is taking an increasingly important role to relieve the overburdened public sector, but it is still mostly concentrated around the capital. For the sector to expand its coverage, external funding will be vital.

serious delays in reaching MDGs have persisted in the health field, due especially to the lack of infrastructure and information for prenatal consultations. The infant-child mortality rate today is 21%, 25% of which in the prenatal period. The maternal mortality rate is estimated at 401 deaths per 100 000 live births. Some progress has been nonetheless observed in the prevalence of malaria, reduced by two-thirds in 2009, thanks especially to the arrival of new ACT-type medication based on artemisinin derivatives.

HIV/AIDS remains under control at an overall 0.7% prevalence rate, with women being more affected (0.9%) than men (0.4%). These results are the fruit of the health policy the state has implemented since 1998 through various programmes, such as the national programme of sanitary and social development and the integrated health-development programme in two phases: 1998-2002 and 2004-08. The budget share for health went up from 5.46% in 2008 to 11% in 2010, still significantly below the World Health Organization (WHO) standard, which is 15% of the budget.