Increase the institutional capacity of LRM and CERRHUD for improved quality of health care in Benin

Increasing the institutional capacity of LRM and CERRHUD will allow our partners to contribute to improved quality of health care services for (myco-)bacterial infections and SRH, and related research in Benin. The main aim of our programme is to strengthen the institutional capacity of the “Laboratoire de Référence des Mycobactéries” (LRM) and “Centre de Recherche en Reproduction Humaine et en Démographie’s” (CERRHUD). This will allow them to contribute to an improved quality of the health care service delivery for bacterial bloodstream infections, tuberculosis and sexual and reproductive health (SRH) in Benin. A country-wide network will be created to monitor antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and to report this information to the national level, while the already existing national tuberculosis network will be continued. To enable the institutes to keep up with the ongoing and future digitalization trends, bioinformatics capacity will be strengthened at LRM and CERRHUD’s IT and the electronic data system will be optimized. In addition, research capacity at institutional and individual levels will be strengthened with two PhD trajectories and methodological short courses. To improve the knowledge and practices of current and future health staff, district level managers and policy makers, blended course modules will be developed on the containment of AMR, quality improvement in the field of maternal and neonatal health and the basic skills needed to conduct operational research. These will be taught through an online training platform and will be complemented with face-to-face trainings. New knowledge will be obtained through research projects on the molecular epidemiology of tuberculosis, AMR and SRH. Moreover, context-based policy research will be conducted in the field of (adolescent) SRH, following a mapping of the national policy research landscape. Finally, a national network for operational research on SRH will be initiated to promote the development of joint research projects. This newly gathered knowledge will contribute to the elaboration of evidence-based health policies and strategies in the country.