Benin report - Institut Africain de la Gouvernance

CHAPTER THREE: DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL GOVERNANCE__________________________________________________________________________330. However, efforts by the Department of Social Protection of the Ministry ofFamily and Social Welfare to sensitise people and to present a less demeaningimage of disability are helping to change people‟s attitudes.331. However, in some parts of the country, disabled newborn babies are stillmurdered at birth. The handicapped must therefore keep a low profile withinthe family and avoid any contact with strangers. Society‟s unwillingness toaccept the disabled is sometimes so acute that these people are compelled toleave their families and try to make ends meet, usually by begging on thestreets. They are also marginalised by the family, in the educationalenvironment and in the workplace.332. In its attempts to alleviate this situation, the government has promoted thiscategory of the population by increasing public awareness about it. Benin hasintroduced a few questions about the disabled in its 2002 general censussurvey. The results showed that 172,870 persons (2.55%) of Benin‟spopulation were disabled. This figure is believed to be low compared toobservations made elsewhere in the developing world, which show the figureto be about 4%. Presumably, the census missed some disabled persons becausethey do not want to be counted. A more accurate estimate of their number maybe close to 271,000. Moreover, disabled persons in Benin are unequallydivided between the north and the south. The prevalence of disability is, onaverage, two times higher in the south (3.04%) than in the four northernregions (1.6%). It is likely that the more difficult socioeconomic conditions ofthe northern regions do not favour the survival of disabled persons 24 .333. Senior citizens. The CRM noted that, according to the various census surveysin Benin, the number of senior citizens is increasing tremendously. Thenumbers have gone up from 302,283 in 1979 to 477,697 in 2002. This is a50% increase. The vast majority of senior citizens are illiterate and live in verypoor conditions.334. The social conditions of older women seem more unfavourable. On average,they live longer than the men, and the practice of polygamy means that womenare more likely to be widowed. Two out of every five elderly women arewidows, while only one elderly man in every 20 is a widower. However, it is abelief in Benin that the transmission of witchcraft is matrilineal. This is whyevery elderly woman is suspected to be a witch. All of this contributes to theisolation of elderly women 25 .335. Until 1996, the authorities had not shown real interest in the plight of elderlypeople. It was in that year that some measures were taken and a ministry incharge of the family was created. This ministry has a department in charge ofthe elderly, but the lack of human and material resources remains a challenge.As a result of these constraints, it is often difficult to identify the needs,concerns and specific problems of the elderly.24 October 2005. Policy and development strategy for physiotherapy in 2006-2010 in Benin, a workingpaper presented during the national workshop on validation.25 National action plan for active ageing (2007-2016), developed by the MFE.128