In Benin, more than 23% of adults are overweight and 7.4% of them are obese. 25% of adults have high blood pressure and 96% of them do not follow any treatment. Based on these findings in 2015, Louvain Coopération has since decided to take action on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), which represent a real global scourge. In low-income countries, the cost of treating these diseases, which include cancer, diabetes, hypertension and obesity, is far too high for households. What's more, it presents too great a risk for mutual insurers, as member contributions are not high enough.
.So what can be done? Through prevention and awareness campaigns. Based on this premise, a pilot project aimed at setting up mechanisms for the prevention and natural, non-medical treatment of NCDs has been running since 2018 in the Atacora region in north-west Benin. Funded 75% by Wallonie-Bruxelles International (WBI), it is supported by Mutualités Libres (MLOZ) and Louvain Coopération.
This is a project to introduce pathologies that are generally uninsurable into a mutual health insurance system,’ explains Brice Titipo, Head of the mutual health insurance field at Louvain Coopération's Regional Office for West Africa. The project is based on a community approach. Mutual health facilitators and specialised peer educators are trained to support patients. These peer educators suffer or have suffered from NCDs and live in the same area. They are therefore in the best position to coach patients. Together, they offer therapeutic education sessions in which participants find support and answers to their questions. As a result, two years after the project began, almost a hundred peer educators have been trained.