SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being

Breast-cancer awareness and screening day for university staff

UTM headquarters hosted its second breast-cancer awareness and preventive screening day for staff, held under the pink campaign banner. The day was organised with the Regional Health Directorate of Tunis, the Tawhida Ben Cheikh University Medical Centre, the Health Club of the Faculty of Sciences of Tunis (FST) and the National Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology (INNTA). The Faculty of Sciences of Tunis also held a breast-cancer awareness event with preventive examinations, with the same partners.

The Tawhida Ben Cheikh centre is located within the Faculty of Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences of Tunis and operates under the joint supervision of the Ministries of Higher Education and of Health. Its team of general practitioners, dentists, ophthalmologists, psychiatrists and nurses provides consultations, preventive care and awareness activities for students and staff of the campus, including screening campaigns for hyperglycemia and hypertension and mental-health assessments.

Awareness on tobacco, addictions and risky behaviours

The Faculty of Medicine of Tunis (FMT) held an anti-tobacco awareness day on its campus, organised by its Environment and Working Conditions Committee and linked to World COPD Day. Attendance was free, with online registration, and the programme ran for four hours. The initiative is consistent with the smoke-free policy of UTM, which prohibits smoking in university vehicles, buildings and residence halls, bans tobacco advertising, promotion and sale on university property and excludes funding from the tobacco industry.

UTM also held a cycle of three awareness sessions on addictions and risky behaviours in university settings, with experts in medicine, psychology and law. The first took place at the Higher Institute of Human Sciences of Tunis (ISSHT) and was opened by the UTM President. The second, “Addictions : comprendre, réagir et s’en sortir”, took place at the Faculty of Economic Sciences and Management of Tunis (FSEGT), and the third, “Déconnecter pour mieux vivre”, at ISSBAT. The FMT continuing-education series also included a masterclass on psychoactive substance use disorder in the workplace.

Balanced eating and nutrition: a staff day and One Health masterclass

UTM, the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis, the Zouhair Kallel National Institute of Nutrition and the Tunisian Society of Clinical Physiology invited UTM staff to a day titled “Quand le One Health fête l’Aïd el Fitr”, linked to World Obesity Day. The title associates the One Health approach with eating habits during the Eid el Fitr festivities. FMT also organised a masterclass on One Health and nutrition, addressing food-related stakes and biosecurity, with a session on the experience of the National Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology. Its continuing-education programme also offered sessions on childhood obesity, on obesity and infertility, and on nutritional care in the perioperative period.

Donia Jerab, a doctoral student at the Biomedical Genomics and Oncogenetics Laboratory of Institut Pasteur de Tunis (IPT), received the prize for best oral communication at the 8th International Congress of Nutrition, organised by the Tunisian Society of Nutrition Sciences. Her work, supervised by Prof. Rym Kefi, links a variant of the GLP1R gene to the metabolic profile of Tunisian patients with obesity, within a thesis on the nutrigenetics of obesity that aims at precision nutrition.

A listening cell and psychological support for students and staff

UTM inaugurated the premises of its Cellule pour la Parité et le Respect at the Tawhida Ben Cheikh University Medical Centre. The cell offers listening and support to students and staff facing psychological difficulties, violence, racism or gender-based discrimination. It is staffed by university psychologists, psychiatrists of the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis and teachers of psychology of the Higher Institute of Human Sciences of Tunis (ISSHT).

The UTM President presented it as a pilot cell created by the university council and arising from an international project with institutions in France, Italy, Lebanon and Algeria. The cell listens to students, examines their difficulties, refers them to suitable solutions and supports them, with confidentiality stressed as a guiding principle. At the Higher Institute of Applied Biological Sciences of Tunis (ISSBAT), the institute’s psychologist also receives students every week by appointment for learning and concentration problems, stress, relationship difficulties, anxiety and discouragement.

Health outreach to the north-west: Doctime consultations and a regional partnership

The 12th edition of Doctime, a free medical outreach day listed among the activities of the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis (FMT), took place in Ain el Baya, in the governorate of Jendouba. It provided more than 2,500 free consultations and treatments to over 1,200 local residents. More than 65 specialist physicians from various fields took part, together with more than 160 medical students.

FMT also held a strategic meeting with the regional health directors and the directors of the nursing-science institutes of the north-west, to strengthen the partnership in training, care and community impact. Participants agreed on a shared vision centred on the real needs of the population and expressed the intention to co-build sustainable initiatives based on proximity, equity and quality of care. The Mobile University Campus was described as a key lever of the collaboration.

UTM Global Health: first dissemination event on health security indices

UTM held the first dissemination event of its project “UTM Global Health”, coordinated by Prof. Hanene Boussi. The evening presented the evaluation and progress of the global and African health security indices, with a focus on Tunisia. The African Health Security Index was initiated by the Pandemic Center at Brown University in the United States and is led by UTM together with the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. Modelled on the Global Health Security Index, it assesses the preparedness of African countries for epidemic risks and is adapted to African conditions, including the prevalence of certain infectious diseases, climate challenges and the constraints of health systems.

AviBiocin pilot fermentation unit inaugurated at ISSBAT

The Higher Institute of Applied Biological Sciences of Tunis (ISSBAT) inaugurated the first integrated pilot fermentation unit of the AviBiocin project, which produces bacteriocins as natural alternatives to antibiotics. The unit was inaugurated in the presence of the Ambassador of Canada to Tunisia, the Director General of the National Agency for the Promotion of Scientific Research and the UTM President. It has fermenters of up to 150 litres, a continuous centrifuge, a spray dryer, a freeze dryer and a high-performance liquid chromatography system, and produces trial batches to optimise processes and set production and quality standards.

AviBiocin, titled “Bacteriocins as an innovative solution to reduce antibiotic use in the poultry sector: from proof of efficacy to marketing”, is funded by Canada’s International Development Research Centre under its Innovet-AMR programme. Partners include Université Laval, the Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, the Universidad de La Rioja, the National School of Veterinary Medicine of Sidi Thabet and poultry-sector companies. The project follows a One Health approach to antimicrobial resistance, and the unit is also intended as a platform for applied research, technology transfer and training.

Institut Pasteur de Tunis restarts serum purification and opens a human genomics laboratory

Institut Pasteur de Tunis (IPT) resumed operation of its therapeutic serum purification line, which had been out of service for several years after a technical breakdown. The line belongs to the production chain of anti-scorpion, anti-viper and anti-rabies sera. The restart aims at national self-sufficiency in anti-scorpion and anti-venom sera and at a gradual return to supplying the local market with anti-rabies serum, and is presented as a step towards health sovereignty. The Ministry of Health supported the operation, sponsored by CLOVER ENERGY and executed by ROCKE1T POWER INDUSTRY, with BIODEX as intermediary and the institute’s production service team.

IPT’s new Human Genomics Laboratory completed, in a single run, the simultaneous analysis of 96 exomes and 48 genomes, described as a national first on an Illumina NovaSeq X Plus platform. The work was carried out under the auspices of the Ministry of Health with the technical partners Medibio and Illumina, hospital and scientific partners providing the samples, and links with the national Genome Tunisia project. Its aims are to improve the diagnosis of rare diseases, develop precision medicine in oncology and move towards national self-sufficiency in high-throughput sequencing.

mRNA training, a digital-twin DataThon and a Japanese donation at Institut Pasteur de Tunis

IPT, an establishment of UTM, held the training “mRNA Technology in Practice” within the VISION project and the mRNA Tech Transfer Unit Programme. The one-and-a-half-day course for 20 participants covered the mRNA workflow from construct design to final drug product, the main processes and analytical methods, and a laboratory tour. It was taught by staff of the IPT mRNA R&D Unit, led by Pr Makram Essafi, Professor in Immunology. VISION, coordinated by IPT, is a Horizon Europe project that strengthens vaccine and biologics development, including mRNA-based technologies, with partners in Serbia, Ukraine, France, Spain, Germany and Tunisia.

IPT also hosted the first DataThon on digital twins for global health in Africa and the Arab world. It combined bioinformatics, artificial intelligence, precision medicine and digital twins applied to health systems, and participants worked on prototypes including data pipelines, AI models, predictive simulation tools and an interactive dashboard. The related project aims at a platform that simulates, analyses and predicts health outcomes at patient, hospital and population levels.

A collaboration and donation agreement was signed between IPT and the Nishimura Foundation in the presence of the Minister of Health and representatives of the Embassy of Japan. It provides financial support and tailored expertise to high-impact projects, supports IPT start-ups and strengthens technology transfer. The agreement was presented as a new step in Tunisian-Japanese cooperation, and presentations covered bioproduction technology platforms, translational research, the mRNA vaccine project and spin-offs in human and animal health.

Institut Pasteur de Tunis named Africa CDC hub for wastewater and environmental surveillance

Africa CDC selected IPT as regional hub for wastewater and environmental surveillance in North Africa, on the basis of the institute’s expertise in environmental surveillance, genomics, bioinformatics and public health. The hub is meant to strengthen environmental monitoring, early-warning systems and health security across the region, within a wider African surveillance network and a One Health approach. An IPT delegation took part in the regional launch of WASTEWISE, a kick-off meeting and inception workshop that defined the institutional framework, governance, terms of reference and coordination mechanisms among the regional hubs, African Union member states and Africa CDC.

IPT’s surveillance work also includes training under the EnSurPoV project on environmental surveillance of polio and enteric viruses in North African countries. IPT hosted a regional course on site selection and sample collection for wastewater surveillance, with institutions from Libya, Algeria and Tunisia and a field visit to the Chotrana wastewater treatment plant, and co-organised a practical course with the Institut Pasteur d’Algérie on methods for concentrating enteric viruses from wastewater. WHO experts also trained the teams of its Clinical Virology Laboratory, the WHO Regional Reference Laboratory for poliomyelitis, in techniques for detecting silent circulation of polioviruses and enteroviruses in the environment. IPT also presented its work at a subregional workshop on wastewater and environmental surveillance hosted by the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean in Cairo, with participants from Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia, which worked on a draft regional roadmap for wastewater surveillance in Africa.

Rabies control day and WHO measles and rubella trainings at Institut Pasteur de Tunis

For World Rabies Day, under the theme “Plus forts ensemble”, IPT held two days of activities. The first brought together representatives of the Ministries of Health, Agriculture and Interior, WHO, FAO and the services involved in rabies control, with guests from the Institut Pasteur d’Algérie, Libya’s National Center for Animal Health and Chad’s Ministry of Public Health. The second included a vaccination and awareness campaign run by the General Directorate of Veterinary Services and a round table on cross-border cooperation, within a One Health approach and the shared target of “Zero by 30”.

The scientific component presented results of the Charles Nicolle Scientific Chair, a collaboration between the IPT Rabies Laboratory and the Lyssavirus Laboratory of Institut Pasteur in Paris, supported by the French Embassy in Tunisia and the Institut français de Tunisie. The Chair also selected two laureates for research stays, on the diagnosis of progressive hearing loss and on the emerging multidrug-resistant yeast Candida auris.

IPT’s Clinical Virology Laboratory, a WHO Regional Reference Laboratory for the Eastern Mediterranean region, hosted two WHO trainings on measles and rubella surveillance, the first on genotyping and the second on serology. Participants came from Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Djibouti and Tunisia, with the aim of sharing expertise and best practices, strengthening national laboratory skills and supporting regional elimination efforts. The genotyping course covered the genetic characterisation of the viruses to track transmission chains and detect possible outbreaks, and the serology course covered techniques for diagnosis, case verification and outbreak classification.

One Health teaching at the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis and coordination at Institut Pasteur

The Faculty of Medicine of Tunis (FMT) and the National School of Veterinary Medicine of Sidi Thabet organised Tunisia’s first One Health Certificate of Complementary Studies, a pilot course with weekly sessions on human, animal and environmental health challenges for public-health physicians and veterinarians, delivered by 39 experts and supported by WOAH, WHO and FAO. The two schools also opened a research master’s in One Health under a joint-accreditation and joint-degree agreement, open to physicians, pharmacists, veterinarians and agronomy engineers. FMT also opened a research master’s in digital health engineering, with applications through the UTM platform.

The One Health task force of Institut Pasteur de Tunis (IPT) held a working meeting to align the institute with the integrated approach linking human, animal and environmental health. IPT also received a World Bank delegation on the planned regional One Health centre in Tunisia, following the first One Health Conference for the Middle East and North Africa region, held in Tunis. Prof. Hechmi Louzir, professor of medicine and immunology at FMT, took part in that conference and facilitated the mission. IPT also hosted Prof. Margaret Karembu, director of ISAAA AfriCenter, for talks on partnership and bioscience communication networks.

IPT also launched, with Institut Pasteur in Paris and Institut Pasteur de Madagascar, a free thirteen-week online course on social sciences and epidemic management on the France Université Numérique platform. Its six chapters cover the role of social sciences in studying emerging infectious diseases, qualitative research during epidemics, ethics and evidence-informed decision-making, and it was developed under the Alliances SHS Afrique project.

Accreditation follow-up visit and quality week at the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis

The accreditation commission of the Francophone network of medical faculties (CIFA-CIDMEF) carried out the first follow-up visit to the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis (FMT) since the faculty obtained its accreditation. Two evaluators assessed progress and the implementation of the recommendations of the initial evaluation, through meetings with teachers, students, administrative staff, UTM and the faculty council and visits on site. The faculty reported encouraging results and the satisfaction of the evaluators, with the final decision to follow the deliberations of CODA-CIDMEF.

FMT’s Quality Committee also organised World Quality Week for students, teachers and staff, under the slogan “La Qualité, une culture. L’Excellence, un engagement.” The programme included a Social Responsibility Day, a satisfaction and innovation session, first-aid training and a participatory evaluation with a living library. A separate Evaluation Day carried the motto “Vous évaluez… Nous améliorons”.

Continuing education, simulation training and thematic days at the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis

The Faculty of Medicine of Tunis (FMT) runs a continuous programme of post-university teaching sessions for the third cycle of medical studies and of masterclasses for practising professionals. Topics have included emergency medicine for older adults, early detection and intervention in psychosis, electroconvulsive therapy, public-health screening, pituitary adenomas, severe polytrauma, respiratory rehabilitation and child abuse, as well as sessions on emerging arboviral diseases and long COVID. The faculty’s Health Simulation Committee organised a cycle of eight seminars on simulation-based teaching, held on one Friday per month in the faculty’s simulation laboratory. The themes include procedural simulation, facilitation of high-fidelity scenarios, an error chamber, moulage, simulation-based assessment, ethics in simulation and the simulated patient.

FMT held a day on autism spectrum disorder under a One Health approach, co-organised with the Tunisian Society of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, which presented the pocket version of a guide on the disorder, multidisciplinary care including animal-assisted mediation and music therapy, gut-microbiota research and the experience of the GAÏA therapeutic farm. It also held a neurosciences day and a two-day advanced oncology course.

ISSIT: the forum “L’infirmier de demain” and a revised four-year nursing degree

The Higher Institute of Nursing Sciences of Tunis (ISSIT) held the fourth forum of its Career and Skills Certification Centre (4C) at the National Library. The forum, “L’infirmier de demain”, explored advanced practice, collaboration and digital health. ISSIT also welcomed a three-day mission of the French Red Cross on joint training projects, the inclusion of persons with special needs and medical simulation.

ISSIT obtained accreditation of a revised national nursing degree, the Licence Nationale en Sciences Infirmières, which runs four years. The curriculum was revised through meetings and workshops drawing on labour-market needs and on benchmarking against similar programmes, with updated competencies, learning outcomes, teaching structure and assessment, and new core teaching units. The project was evaluated by the National Commission for Health and Medical Technologies and approved by the Council of Universities, within the national accreditation campaign for bachelor’s programmes coordinated with the Rénov’Santé project.

Japan–Tunisia–Africa triangular training on medical equipment maintenance at ISTMT

The Higher Institute of Medical Technologies of Tunis (ISTMT) ran the three-session triangular training programme with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and the Cité des Sciences de Tunis, a programme stemming from an agreement reached at TICAD 8 in Tunis. After a first session on medical imaging equipment, the second trained 18 hospital engineers from eight African countries in the advanced maintenance of equipment used in operating rooms and resuscitation units, over 20 days in person and one week remotely.

The third and final session was a training of trainers on the management and maintenance of medical equipment, with a focus on medical laboratory equipment. It brought together 18 participants from nine French-speaking African countries, and covered medical imaging and radiotherapy, operating and resuscitation rooms and medical analysis laboratories, with experts of Morinomiya University of Medical Sciences (Japan) presenting the role of biomedical engineers in Japan. Across the three sessions, more than 50 participants from 11 countries were trained, and the UTM President announced that ISTMT would continue trainer training under other projects.

50th National Congress of Medicine under the patronage of UTM and FMT

The Tunisian Society of Medical Sciences (STSM), presented as the oldest medical association of Tunisia and Africa and publisher of La Tunisie médicale, held its 50th National Congress of Medicine in Tunis, under the patronage of UTM and the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis. The theme was “De l’intelligence artificielle à l’intelligence pratique dans la rédaction scientifique”, and the congress addressed researchers, physicians, academics and students.

The programme combined plenary lectures, workshops and round tables on building a researcher’s identity, improving manuscripts with artificial intelligence, bibliographic search tools, meta-analyses, graphical figures, ethics and strategies to avoid rejection by editorial committees. It included the MedWrite Academy for junior researchers, a masterclass for senior researchers, a tribute to five Tunisian physician-researchers ranked among the top 2% of researchers worldwide, and a 5,000 TND prize for the best Tunisian medical publication. The STSM President, Lilia Zakhama, stressed that scientific writing follows specific rules and that AI tools can assist from the formulation of a research idea to publication.

Cooperation agreements with health institutions at home and abroad

UTM signed a cooperation agreement with the Institut National de la Santé, directed by Prof. Hajer Aounallah Skhiri, covering research, the exchange of expertise and training for students and researchers. The Faculty of Medicine of Tunis signed an academic cooperation agreement with the Faculty of Medicine, Pharmacy and Dentistry of the University of Nouakchott, covering medical training, clinical training and research.

Institut Pasteur de Tunis (IPT) signed two partnership agreements with UTM establishments. The first, signed by Pr Samia Menif, Director General of IPT, and Pr Mouna Marrakchi, Director of ISSBAT, covers scientific research, academic collaboration and the training and supervision of students. The second, signed by Pr Menif and Pr Adel Megriche, Dean of the Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, continues an existing collaboration through academic and scientific exchanges, joint research projects and training for students and young researchers. The Faculty of Medicine of Tunis also relayed a call for applications under the HEALTHMED project, with eight mobility grants of two to three months for doctoral students and students in health specialties and two seven-day grants for teachers and collaborators of UTM, to stay in pre-selected host laboratories.

International distinctions for UTM physicians and researchers

Dr Riadh Gouider of the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis (FMT), head of neurology and of the multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer centre at Razi Hospital, took part in the World Congress of Neurology in Seoul and was elected First Vice-President of the World Federation of Neurology. He was described as the first neurologist from the region to hold the position, and he is also an elected member of the French National Academy of Medicine. His earlier roles in the federation include regional director for Africa and elected trustee.

Dr Samra Badrouchi of FMT, a hospital-university assistant in nephrology at Charles Nicolle Hospital, and Dr Olfa Messaoud of Institut Pasteur de Tunis (IPT) completed the Master of Medical Sciences in Clinical Investigation at Harvard Medical School with distinction, thanks to the Hazem Ben-Gacem scholarship. Dr Badrouchi also received the Gordon Williams Gold Medal Award, which recognises the student who best combines academic excellence, leadership, professionalism, mentorship and community engagement.

At IPT, Dr Yosr Hamdi, a researcher, was elected Vice-President for North Africa of AORTIC, the African cancer organisation, at the close of its congress in Hammamet, which involved more than 200 Tunisian researchers and clinicians. The BIND project, coordinated by Emna Harigua of the Laboratory of Molecular Epidemiology and Experimental Pathology, won first prize in the U-INVENT contest of the UTM Research Day, and Dr Hechmi Louzir, former Director General of IPT, was raised to Officer of the Ordre national du mérite.