Supporting the Faculty of Pharmacy in Benin

— Benin —

BACKGROUND

Following on from the work it carried out in Benin from 2002 to 2010 in support of the National Quality Control Agency (ANCQ), in 2021, the Fondation Pierre Fabre embarked on a 5-year project to assist the Faculty of Pharmacy in Cotonou. The goal: to consolidate the training options available to pharmacists and drug specialists, and create a regional network of experts capable of helping to combat counterfeit medicines.

A NATIONAL POLICY PROMOTING HIGH-QUALITY MEDICINES

As is the case in most medical fields, Benin has to cope with a shortage of pharmacists, with just nine pharmacists for 100,000 inhabitants in 2020. The country’s Chamber of Pharmacists had 651 listed members.

Despite this shortage, which is most acutely felt in public institutions and hospitals, Benin has led several initiatives to promote the control and quality of medicines during the past few years. In 2009, it was the driving force behind The Cotonou Declaration calling for an end to counterfeit medicines. The government recently set up an action plan encouraging the opening of pharmaceutical dispensaries in the country’s most hard-to-reach regions. Those commitments prompted the World Bank to fund a new building to host the ANCQ, on which work got underway in 2021.

BOOSTING THE RESOURCES OF THE FACULTY OF PHARMACY

The Fondation Pierre Fabre is committed to supporting the government of Benin by providing operational support for the Faculty of Pharmacy in the form of additional training resources (level of qualification and specialties) and by developing academic activities. The project also involves improving infrastructure as well as furnishing and equipping classrooms for practical exercises. Moreover, the Foundation provides assistance to help teaching staff identify other resources with the ultimate aim of making the structure financially independent.

These advances will enable the faculty to train first-rate specialists who are able to meet Benin’s needs, while at the same time opening up career prospects for young graduates beyond pharmaceutical dispensaries to academic structures and public or private institutions (ANCQ, hospitals, biomedical analysis laboratories, pharmaceutical and agri-food industry). Professionalizing the sector is an effective way of supporting the progress of health programs in Benin.

MAKING THE FACULTY PART OF A REGIONAL NETWORK OF EXPERTS

The second part of the project involves facilitating interaction between the Faculty of Pharmacy in Cotonou and its neighbors in Sub-Saharan Africa, working to create a training network in the pharmaceutical sciences (WEAQUAM = West to East Africa Quality Medicines Network).  The aim is to unite all professionals in the field of medicines so they can work together to promote the control and quality of medicines.

Initial interaction will focus on the Pharmacy program at the University of Lomé in Togo, to which the Foundation also provides operational support.

KEY FACTS
_____

Priority
Training healthcare professionals

Programme
2021-2025

Type of involvement
Distributor and operator

Actions

  • Reinforce the faculty’s scientific, human and technical capacities.
  • Help the faculty set up a network with neighboring institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa, so healthcare professionals can work together to promote the control and quality of medicines.

The Faculty of Pharmacy in Benin offers a very good level of training and works seamlessly with the Faculty of Medicine. It brings in foreign teachers from Belgium, France, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Senegal, and has been strongly supported by the Belgian University Cooperation for 20 years, through the Universities of Brussels, Liège and Leuven. Together, these initiatives constitute a powerful springboard for building the future »

Françoise Nepveu
Scientific advisor to the Fondation Pierre Fabre.

REVIEW AND PROSPECTS

Achievements

Phase 1
Reinforcing the Faculty of Pharmacy  (2021-2025)

  • Boost resources and the specialties offered by teaching staff, by awarding training grants
  • Building renovation
  • Furnishing of two classrooms for practical exercises

 

Phase 2
Making the Faculty of Pharmacy part of a network (2022-2026)

  • Installation of video conference rooms in partnership with the AUF (French-speaking academic agency)
  • Support for the opening of a master’s degree in quality control and quality assurance of medicines and healthcare products.
  • Support for the development of joint scientific research projects, including a project on making mobile quality control methods for medicines more widely available.

 

PARTNERS

  • Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (French-speaking academic agency)
  • Pharmacy Program at the University of Lomé in Togo
  • Faculties of Pharmacy in the WEAQUAM network

See Also

See Also

Rehabilitation of the Vientiane Faculty of Pharmacy

An initial partnership agreement was signed on 10 May 2005 and the Foundation embarked on the project with a threefold challenge before it: to fully satisfy the request, but, more importantly, to rally local youth around this renaissance and give the institution wings to fly on its own.

27/07/2018

Follow our action

Pierre Fabre Fondation 2023 Annual Report

The Fondation Pierre Fabre is heir to the humanistic values and tireless commitment of its founder, Pierre Fabre, who instructed that it should participate “humbly but effectively in improving access to healthcare for the most disadvantaged populations, a key factor in a country’s development”. The Foundation’s status and the way it operates are valuable assets that help it stay true to its defence of the world’s least privileged communities. That commitment manifests itself in the form of an operational strategy based on three key areas of support: training, caring and innovating.

All programmes