Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Asmaa, President of the Lalla Asmaa Foundation, chaired, on Friday at Mohammed VI University of Health Sciences in Rabat, the opening ceremony of the 1st African Congress on Pediatric Cochlear Implantation, a major milestone in the structuring of a genuine African hub dedicated to childhood deafness and cochlear implantation.
Of major scientific and human significance, this event is in line with the enlightened vision of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God assist Him, whose action continues to promote a solidary, concrete and deeply human South-South cooperation, serving the development of African peoples.
Upon her arrival at Mohammed VI University of Health Sciences, Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Asmaa reviewed a detachment of the Auxiliary Forces that was paying tribute, before being greeted by Amine Tahraoui, Minister of Health and Social Protection; Azzedine El Midaoui, Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation; Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid, Minister of Youth, Culture and Communication; Naima Ben Yahya, Minister of Solidarity, Social Integration and Family and Mohamed Yacoubi, Wali of the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra region, Governor of the Rabat Prefecture.
Her Royal Highness was also greeted by the wali, national coordinator of the National Initiative for Human Development (INDH), Mohammed Dardouri, the President of the Regional Council, Rachid El Abdi, the President of the Rabat Communal Council, Fatiha Almoudni, the President of the Rabat Prefectoral Council, Abdelaziz Driouich, the President of the Council of the Municipality of Agdal-Riad, Abdelilah Idrissi Bouzidi, the Deputy Director of the Mohammed VI Foundation of Sciences and Health, Youns Bjijou, the Ambassador and Director General of the Moroccan Agency for International Cooperation (AMCI), Mohamed Methqal, and the Deputy President of the Lalla Asmaa Foundation, Karim Essakalli.
Her Royal Highness then visited the "Lalla Asmaa Foundation" stand, which highlights the various actions and initiatives carried out by the Foundation, over the years, for the inclusion, schooling and dignity of deaf and hard-of-hearing children.
At the beginning of the opening ceremony, the Deputy Director of the Mohammed VI Foundation of Sciences and Health, Youns Bjijou, delivered an address on behalf of the President of the Mohammed VI Foundation for Science and Health, Prof. Lahcen Belyamani, in which he affirmed that the presence of HRH Princess Lalla Asmaa at this Congress confers “both a strategic and moral dimension” to this event, as it underscores the commitment of the Kingdom, under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God assist Him, to social inclusion and human development.
Bjijou also stated that, under the impetus of Her Royal Highness, childhood deafness has become a privileged field of solidarity, skills transfer and development of innovative models serving children and their families in Morocco and Africa.
The personal involvement of Her Royal Highness, through the Lalla Asmaa Foundation, has enabled tens of thousands of children to regain, thanks to restored hearing, a sense of life, opening for them effective access to school, training and full community participation, he added.
In a similar address, the Deputy President of the Lalla Asmaa Foundation, Karim Essakalli, stated that the 1st African Congress on Pediatric Cochlear Implantation is an occasion "where science becomes a bearer of tenderness, where skills from across the continent unite so that no child remains a prisoner of silence."
HRH Princess Lalla Asmaa then chaired the signing ceremony of two agreements. The first, relating to strengthening cooperation between the Lalla Asmaa Foundation and the Mohammed VI Foundation of Sciences and Health, strengthens the structuring of research and innovation related to childhood deafness. It organizes close cooperation between a Foundation engaged in the field, in direct contact with families and children, and a Foundation rooted in the academic, hospital and scientific environment.
Signed by Karim Essakalli and Youns Bjijou, this agreement provides for the development of joint research projects. It strengthens the existing partnership between the two Foundations in the areas of research, education and auditory technologies.
The second agreement establishes a partnership between the Lalla Asmaa Foundation and the National Fund of Social Welfare Organizations (CNOPS). Signed by Karim Essakalli and Lahcen Larhdir, Acting Director of CNOPS, this agreement represents a decisive step forward for equitable access to auditory care in Morocco.
Thanks to this agreement, civil servants affiliated with CNOPS, along with their children and families, will now benefit from reimbursement and full coverage of cochlear implants by the Lalla Asmaa Foundation, under the same conditions as other schemes.
Her Royal Highness then presented the “HRH Princess Lalla Asmaa Prize for Scientific Research” to Dr. Ghita Mechaia, for her project on developing an adaptive mobile application in Moroccan dialect Arabic (darija) for post-cochlear-implant auditory training in children.
This Prize, intended to encourage the development of applied research capable of producing tangible changes in the lives of deaf children and to create a dynamic of positive emulation, is part of the vision of a country that is not merely applying existing protocols, but wants to help invent the solutions of tomorrow.
At the end of this opening ceremony, HRH Princess Lalla Asmaa visited the stands of the main actors in auditory and hearing technology present at this Congress.
Thanks to this first African Congress on Pediatric Cochlear Implantation, Morocco brings together experts from five continents, recognized specialists, researchers, clinicians, engineers, speech therapists and institutional officials who, together, are laying the foundations of unprecedented scientific and medical cooperation.
This founding Congress marks the beginning of a dynamic that is set to grow and reinforces the Kingdom's determination, backed by its model, its teams, and its institutional commitment, to continue to act, innovate, and share so that Africa can embrace the future.
MAP: 12 December 2025
