The TRUE Africa 100 is our list of innovators, opinion-formers, game-changers, pioneers, dreamers and mavericks who we feel are shaping the Africa of today and tomorrow. We’re featuring them over 100 days and we’ve asked each of them three questions.
Christian Bréchot is the current president of the Institut Pasteur, an international research institute dedicated to developing new strategies for diagnosing, preventing and treating disease. Their Ebola Task Force is one of the most comprehensive research programs on the disease. They identified the Ebola virus in Guinea in March 2014 and will be opening an Institut Pasteur in Conakry in 2016.
The Institut Pasteur was very involved in the Ebola epidemic. What were the most positive developments you saw during the crisis?
At the international level, there was an increased awareness on the need for, support to and advancement of research and development on emerging deadly pathogens. There was also real (although too late) awareness on the importance of a strong public health system in the countries and on the international dimension of local threats. I also saw outstanding individual mobilisation in the Institute and the network.
What do you think could be the next big health scare for Africa?
It could be new, uncontrolled Ebola epidemics or other threatening, emerging diseases, some of which might be associated with more ‘regular’ epidemics like flu, current meningitis etc.
Who’s your African of the year?
African Ebola health workers and scientists deserve to be Africans of the year.
Follow the Institut Pasteur on Twitter @aiderpasteur
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