As the academic year draws to a close, we share with you some of the results and successes achieved on the ground by our teams and partners in 2022. During this period, the successful launch of our new 2022-2026 development programme has been at the centre of our concerns, in our desire to relentlessly pursue the construction of a sustainable, equitable and united world.

Les Mutualités Libres and Louvain Coopération are working together to create and develop mutual health organisations in Benin in particular, in order to guarantee access to healthcare for the entire population. These organisations are also involved in the fight against diabetes and high blood pressure, diseases that are very prevalent in the country. Christian Horemans, International Affairs Expert at the Union nationale des Mutualités Libres, presents this project and their commitment.

As a mutual insurance company, solidarity is written into our DNA. It therefore seemed very logical to us to put our expertise at the service of Louvain Coopération's projects, in an inter-mutualist and intercontinental spirit. The project, supported by Wallonie-Bruxelles International (WBI) and running between 2018 and 2022, involvedequippinghealth centres with equipment, training staff in the managementof hypertension and diabetes, organising screening campaigns and referring people at risk to appropriate centres.

awareness-raising sessions on risk factors and non-medicinal means of preventing non-communicable diseases have also been conducted within mutual health insurance companies.

Preventing this type of disease is even more valuable in Africa because they affect the population so heavily, and most people cannot afford insulin. What's more, this prevention can also have a social added value. For example, peer-educator clubs have been set up, and their members go walking once a week because physical activity is so important in preventing diabetes and hypertension.

In 2022, 16,024 cases of illness were covered by the mutual health organisations we support.