Partnerships

A Strategic Partnership with the National University of Singapore to Advance Women’s Health

In 2023, iWISH, Université Paris Cité, and the Global Centre for Asian Women’s Health (GloW) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) launched a partnership focused on advancing women’s health. Their collaboration began with a joint conference in Djerba, Tunisia, in September, bringing together experts and stakeholders to discuss key issues in the field. The partnership was officially formalised in October with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by the presidents of both universities, in the presence of the Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore and the French Minister of Higher Education and Research.

Under this partnership, iWISH and GloW will focus on the following areas:

• Organisation of seminars and conferences on women’s health;
• Exchange of scientific, academic, and technical information, as well as academic materials and other information of mutual interest;
• Participation in joint awareness-raising and fundraising activities to support collaborative projects;
• Exchange of faculty, researchers, and PhD students between the two institutes;
• Identification of opportunities for commercialisation of technologies developed through research.

The agreement aims to address several issues identified by the scientific community, including the under-diagnosis of heart disease in women, nutrition and lifestyle medicine, female cancers, and the under-representation of Asian women in research. Pregnancy complications have also been identified as a focus area.

Following the signing of the agreement, the two institutes have organised a joint scientific conference and the “Saving Women’s Lives” fundraising gala dinner in Singapore in 2024.

The two institutes are currently planning their annual joint conference in Paris, which will focus on Building Equity in women’s health across the lifespan. This upcoming conference will also be co-organised by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Stanford School of Medicine.

For more information about the partnership between iWISH and GloW, please contact :

Dr Mariana Losada, Paris-NUS Programme Director, mariana.losada@nus.edu.sg

A partnership in Benin

The partnership between FHU PREMA and CHU-MEL in Benin aims to improve care for premature newborn babies, particularly by tackling undernutrition. Since 2020, several missions have helped to train nursing staff, reorganise the neonatology and obstetrics departments, and provide equipment such as breast pumps and teaching aids. Beninese nurses have also received training in France. The partnership includes research, continuing education, and university cooperation, and is underpinned by a framework agreement between six French and Beninese institutions.

Study days such as the Franco-Beninese Interdisciplinary Day on Women’s Health  are also organised to encourage knowledge sharing, discuss clinical practices, and strengthen collaboration between teams.

The main actions :

• Equipment: donations of breast pumps, consumables, teaching aids and videos.
• Training: Staff have been trained in breastfeeding, the kangaroo method and respiratory distress; caregivers have been exchanged between Benin and France.
• Organization of care: reorganization of departments, wider access to breast pumps, creation of midwife positions specialized in breastfeeding.
• Research and teaching: training in obstetric ultrasound; a framework agreement was signed between six partners to strengthen cooperation in health and research.

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