Maternal and neonatal infections are a major cause of mortality and morbidity in Benin. One major cause of peripartum infections is poor hygiene in healthcare facilities. Healthcare professionals are unaware or do not follow good hygiene practices, allowing multidrug-resistant bacteria to spread in hospitals and cause infections. Our Mimin project will address this poor hygiene practice in hospitals and also in remote communities among women who are pregnant or have recently given birth. We will identify key gaps in healthcare practices and current curricula for midwives, nurses, and physicians. Based on our analysis, we will design new education modules that will improve the hygiene training of all healthcare professionals. One module will specifically be designed for the continuing education of professionals already in employment. The second module will apply the Internationalization at Home e-learning approach to create co-education for midwifery students from two different countries. Newly trained professionals will be involved in creating an improved Hospital hygiene and infection prevention programme at six pilot hospitals, including the strengthening of an online technical platform for infection surveillance. In addition, outreach activities will be piloted in six disadvantaged communities to raise awareness of good hygiene practices and neonatal care among mothers. In order to achieve sustainable impact, a new national reference laboratory will be set up to enable the diagnosis and monitoring of pathogens causing blood-borne infections, during the project and in the future. The impact of all our activities will be assessed and the information will be shared with relevant stakeholders and policy makers. The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and the Ministry of Health have been involved in project planning since the beginning, and thus our results will enable evidence-based decision-making in the design of new health and education policies.

"The project ""Strengthening expertise and bioinformatics to control antimicrobial resistance in West Africa"" (SEBA) will improve the quality of higher education in Benin and Burkina Faso, enabling them tackle the challenge of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). AMR genes allow bacteria to become resistant to antibiotics used to treat human and animal infections. In West Africa, as in other resource-poor settings, control of the occurrence and transmission of AMR is challenging due socioeconomic constraints, lack of expertise, and inadequate facilities to educate the experts. Through SEBA, we will strengthen the human and technical capacities of partner universities, enabling them to provide high-quality education and to train future experts in AMR management. We will design and implement a new Advanced Training Programme in AMR, providing 18 months’ training at MSc level. The training will include e-learning, partner country contact teaching, independent learning, and placement in a stakeholder institution. The crosscutting principles for the programme are: application of active learning techniques based on the modern learning theories; and application of the One Health approach, whereby human, animal and environmental health are treated as one entity, influenced by socioeconomic structures. Training in molecular biology techniques and bioinformatics will equip graduates with the skills to contribute fully in global AMR activities. Furthermore, they will develop their ability to interact with communities and stakeholders, including potential employers. The broad and deep hands-on training SEBA provides will enable students to become world-class experts in AMR management and control, able to positively impact West-Africa and globally. The universities will improve their competence in developing educational programmes, and will increase societal impact. Training will be subject to quality control and accreditation procedures to meet European higher education standards."