Malaria, yellow fever, sleeping sickness, yaws, leprosy, trachoma, and meningitis are endemic. A broad program was set up in 1961 to control these and other diseases; compulsory vaccination against smallpox and yellow fever was instituted, efforts by mobile health units to track down cases and provide treatment were intensified, and general health measures were tightened both within the country and at the borders.
In 1999, the country immunized children up to one year old as follows: diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus, 62 percent, and measles, 62 percent. Malnutrition affected 24 percent of children under five years old.
The HIV/AIDS in Ivory Coast prevalence was 0.60 per 100 adults in 2003. As of 2004, there were approximately 570,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in the country. There were an estimated 47,000 deaths from AIDS in 2003.
The high incidence of HIV/AIDS is attributed to a lack of HIV education programs.
In June 2011, the United Nations Population Fund released a report on The State of the World's Midwifery. It contained new data on the midwifery workforce and policies relating to newborn and maternal mortality for 58 countries. The 2010 maternal mortality rate per 100,000 births for Ivory Coast is 470.
This is compared with 944.1 in 2008 and 580.3 in 1990. The under 5 mortality rate, per 1,000 births is 121 and the neonatal mortality as a percentage of under 5's mortality is 33. The aim of this report is to highlight ways in which the Millennium Development Goals can be achieved, particularly Goal 4 – Reduce child mortality and Goal 5 – improve maternal death. In Ivory Coast the number of midwives per 1,000 live births is 4 and the lifetime risk of death for pregnant women 1 in 44.
About 36% of women have undergone female genital mutilation (as of 2006). The birth rate in 1999 was 41.8 per 1,000. The infant mortality rate in 2005 was 90.83 per 1,000 live births, and 14 percent of all births were classified as low weight. In 2005, average life expectancy in Ivory Coast was estimated at 48.62.