Françoise Barré-Sinoussi Excellence Scholarship 2026–2027

This year, 14 eligible applications were carefully reviewed by the Selection Committee, chaired by Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Denis Mukwege. Among them, Adjo Amandine EZA’s application stood out in particular, both for the quality of her background and for the strength and relevance of her project. Her commitment and active engagement within the networks supported by ANRS MIE were also key factors in the jury’s assessment.

Graduated as a midwife in Togo in 2017, Adjo Amandine EZA later completed a Master’s degree in Nutrition and Food Security (2025), which enabled her to undertake an internship at CERPOP in Toulouse. During this six-month placement, she worked on the promotion of sexual and reproductive health among adolescents living with HIV in Côte d’Ivoire. She is currently pursuing a first-year Master’s degree in Public Health at the University of Bordeaux.

Her career path, combining midwifery practice, complementary training, and public health experience, has provided her with a diverse and multidisciplinary expertise. The Evaluation Committee thus highlighted the quality of her trajectory, as well as the fact that she is the first midwife to be awarded this Excellence Scholarship.

Understanding care pathways and barriers to the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of the hepatitis B virus in Lomé is the focus of the project led by Adjo Amandine EZA. Entitled “Missed opportunities in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B virus in Lomé (Togo)”, her internship project aims to analyse care pathways, access to interventions, and the individual and structural determinants influencing prevention.

This work will be carried out at the African Centre for Research in Epidemiology and Public Health (CARESP) in Lomé, Togo, with the support of Professor Didier Ekouevi, within the framework of the HIPOCAMP project.

Endowed with €20,000, the scholarship, funded by ANRS MIE, is awarded to ISPED under a three-year agreement between ANRS MIE and the University of Bordeaux. It contributes to strengthening public health capacities and to structuring research networks in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia.