SI Club Cotonou Doyen started its partnership with SI Club Vallauris-Sophia-Antipolis-Mougins, France with a project to provide six Ecosan latrines and urinals that will benefit the 300 women of the village. The Soroptimists also discovered that women were having great difficulty reaching their nearest health centre to give birth. The long distances and lack of transportation facilities often resulted in miscarriages, stillbirths and maternal death. SI Cotonou Doyen therefore decided that they would also build a maternity ward in the village.
The main objective of the project is to save the lives of women and babies during and after childbirth. This new facility will improve the conditions of delivery and the quality of essential obstetric and neonatal care, thereby improving the survival rate of Adounko’s women and children. Besides the Soroptimists, the Ministry of Health in Benin and the municipality of Adounko also contributed to and partnered in this project.