18/08/2026
🌿🇧🇯 MINNAGAN: IN BOHICON, BENIN’S TRADITIONAL MEDICINE TAKES A MAJOR STEP FORWARD! 🇪🇺
Second training cohort: stronger skills, better practices, and renewed commitment from traditional medicine practitioners
On Monday, August 17, 2026, the Bohicon Youth Center enthusiastically hosted the second cohort of the capacity-building programme for traditional medicine practitioners (TMPs), organized within the framework of the MINNAGAN project, funded by the European Union through the Erasmus+ programme and implemented in Benin with the commitment of partner institutions.
🌿 REMARKABLE MOBILIZATION!
More 80 men and women traditional medicine practitioners from the departments of Zou, Collines, Mono and Couffo, representing several professional federations and organizations — FANAMETRAB, FeNaVPraMeTraB, FeNaMeTraB, FENAPROMEN, KOREDE CULTURE INTERNATIONAL and UOSMT — came together around a shared ambition:
LEARN • IMPROVE • PROFESSIONALIZE • VALORIZE
This second cohort represents another major step toward professionalizing practices, strengthening the quality of traditional preparations, and improving patient safety.
🎓 7 MODULES TO TRANSFORM PRACTICES
During the training, participants benefited from seven structured modules, combining scientific knowledge, practical expertise, experience sharing and demonstrations:
🌿 1. Identification and authentication of medicinal plants
Understanding the basics of botany and improving the identification of plants used in traditional medicine in order to reduce the risks of errors and confusion.
🧼 2. Hygiene and contamination prevention
Strengthening hygiene practices during the collection, processing, preparation and storage of traditional products.
🌱 3. Collection, conservation and sustainable management of medicinal plants
Promoting responsible collection and conservation methods that preserve both plant quality and natural resources.
🧪 4. Preparation, quality and safety of plant-based products
Improving practices related to the preparation, packaging, storage and quality control of products derived from traditional pharmacopoeia.
⚖️ 5. Standards, legislation and regulation of traditional medicine and phytomedicines
Developing a better understanding of the regulatory requirements and standards applicable to plant-based health products.
🏥 6. Good practices in patient care and collaboration with conventional medicine
Promoting safer patient care and strengthening dialogue and collaboration between traditional medicine practitioners and healthcare professionals within the conventional healthcare system.
📚 7. Documentation and management of patient records
Encouraging the documentation of practices, patient follow-up and the establishment of records to improve the traceability of patient care.
🔬 HIGH-LEVEL TRAINERS SERVING TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE
The quality of this training also rests on the diversity and expertise of the trainers mobilized.
Participants benefited from contributions by specialists and experts from academia and national institutions, including:
🌿 Botany specialists, for the identification, authentication and knowledge of medicinal plants;
💊 Pharmacologists, to improve understanding of biological effects, rational use and safety issues associated with plant-based products;
🦠 Microbiologists, to raise awareness of microbiological risks, hygiene, contamination and microbiological quality control;
🏥 Resource persons from the National Programme for Pharmacopoeia and Traditional Medicine (PNPMT) of the Ministry of Health, providing national institutional and regulatory expertise;
💊 Experts from the Beninese Agency for Medicines and Other Health Products (ABMed), strengthening understanding of requirements related to the quality, safety and regulation of health products.
🤝 SCIENCE + EXPERIENCE + TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE = A STRENGTH FOR BENIN
This meeting created a genuine space for dialogue among holders of traditional knowledge, academics, scientists and national health institutions.
🌍 PROJECT COORDINATORS STRONGLY COMMITTED TO THE SUCCESS OF MINNAGAN
This initiative benefits from the commitment of the main MINNAGAN project leaders:
🇫🇮 Prof. Leena Hanski, University of Helsinki, MINNAGAN Project Coordinator;
🇧🇯 Prof. Victorien DOUGNON, MINNAGAN Country Coordinator at the University of Abomey-Calavi (UAC);
🇧🇯 Prof. Jean Robert KLOTOE, Project Coordinator at UNSTIM;
🇧🇯 Prof. Christine OUINSAVI, Project Coordinator at the University of Parakou.
The project also benefits from the expertise of San Jorge University in Spain, an international partner in the consortium.
🎁 100% FREE TRAINING: A STRONG COMMITMENT TO TMPs
One of the most remarkable aspects of this initiative is that it is completely free of charge.
Because capacity building should be accessible to everyone, no participant had to pay to benefit from this training.
Each participant received, free of charge:
🎓 Complete, high-quality training;
📜 A free certificate of participation;
🚍 A transportation allowance to facilitate participation;
📚 A free training guide, provided in the participant’s language of choice.
🌍 4 LANGUAGES TO LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND!
The training guide was developed in:
🇫🇷 French
🇬🇧 English
🗣️ Fon
🗣️ Yoruba
This educational innovation facilitates the uptake of knowledge and enables practitioners to return to the training content in a language they fully understand.
🌿 MINNAGAN: INVESTING IN PEOPLE TO TRANSFORM TRADITIONAL MEDICINE
In Bohicon, it was not only knowledge that was shared.
Skills were strengthened.
Practices are set to evolve.
Knowledge is being better documented.
Bridges are being built between tradition and science.
Through MINNAGAN, the University of Abomey-Calavi, University of Helsinki, San Jorge University, UNSTIM and the University of Parakou, with the support of national partner institutions, are contributing to building a safer, more professional, better-structured and sustainably valued traditional medicine sector in Benin.
💚 In Bohicon, traditional medicine practitioners learned. They shared. They questioned. They demonstrated. And above all… they are leaving with practical tools to take action.
🌿 MINNAGAN: STRENGTHEN KNOWLEDGE • IMPROVE PRACTICES • PROTECT PATIENTS • VALORIZE BENIN’S TRADITIONAL PHARMACOPOEIA!
URMAPha – University of Abomey-Calavi
Science serving health, innovation and the valorization of Benin’s traditional pharmacopoeia.
