Paolo Chiesi Foundation
Run4PaoloChiesiFoundation – A Healthy Beginning for Benin Newborns
The NEST Model
In 2014, the Paolo Chiesi Foundation launched the NEST Model – Neonatal Essentials for Survival and Thriving, an intervention model designed to help improve access to quality neonatal care in sub-Saharan African countries, with a particular focus on the French-speaking region.
The Model, developed and implemented in collaboration with several hospitals, NGOs, institutions, and universities, aims to reduce neonatal mortality (0-28 days), particularly among premature, low-birth-weight, or sick infants.
The Project in Benin
The Paolo Chiesi Foundation has been active in Benin since 2011, in collaboration with the Saint Jean de Dieu Hospital in Tanguiéta, located in one of the areas designated by the government as most in need of support. The goal of the collaboration is to contribute to the reduction of neonatal mortality by strengthening the hospital’s capacity to care for newborns and their families.
Since 2025, we have also begun implementing the NEST Model at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Mère et d’Enfant Lagune, the largest government hospital dedicated to maternal and neonatal health in the country, located in Cotonou.
Project Objectives
The project’s goal is to reduce neonatal mortality (first 28 days of life) at partner health facilities and improve care for premature, low-birth-weight, and sick infants. The core of the project’s activities is the neonatology departments and Kangaroo Care (a practice that involves keeping a premature baby in skin-to-skin contact with the mother or father) units at the two hospitals.
The specific objectives are:
- Improve essential care to reduce the specific mortality rate related to prematurity and infections
- Improve the care of newborns with respiratory complications and/or jaundice
- Create a support and collaboration network between hospitals and health centers in the Tanguiéta and Cotonou areas, to improve care for mothers and newborns
About the Paolo Chiesi Foundation
The Paolo Chiesi Foundation is a philanthropic organization established by Paolo Chiesi and his family, inspired by the belief that every person has the right to access quality healthcare and live a healthy life.
It aims to reduce neonatal mortality in Francophone sub-Saharan Africa and improve the health of patients affected by chronic respiratory diseases in the Global South.
The Foundation supports international scientific research and local development programs to transfer medical-scientific knowledge and to empower families in the healthcare process, promoting sustainable growth and local communities’ accountability.
Founded in Parma (Italy) in 2005 and operational since 2010, the Paolo Chiesi Foundation operates today in Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Guyana, Ivory Coast, Nepal, Peru, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda.
More information
To learn more about the project and the Paolo Chiesi Foundation, visit our website: www.paolochiesifoundation.org
