Launched in 2022, the DEDICATE project (Blood-based diagnostic of paucibacillary TB in Bangladesh) is part of the WHO’s plan to combat tuberculosis, with the goal of reducing under-diagnosis of two specific forms of the disease: pediatric tuberculosis and extra-pulmonary tuberculosis. These paucibacillary forms of the disease, presenting small quantities of pathogens, are difficult to detect using conventional methods based on analyzing sputum samples, which are also particularly difficult to collect from young children.

The study’s results were presented at the World Conference on Lung Health in Copenhagen in November 2025 by Ashabul Islam, a student at icddr,b (International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh) and the winner of the 2024 GABRIEL prize for young scientists for his work on this project. The results obtained among children were published in the scientific journal IJTLD Open in 2025.

Funded in partnership with the AnBer Foundation, and with a one-off donation from bioMérieux shareholders, DEDICATE is conducted with the operational support of icddr,b and Cepheid.

Launched in Bangladesh in July 2025, the RISK4Kids study aims to provide a solution to the difficulty of distinguishing tuberculosis from pneumonia in children due to overlap between their clinical symptoms (cough, fever, and respiratory distress) and the lack of reliable diagnostic tools. These complications in making a diagnosis contribute to high rates of inadequate treatment and the emergence of antimicrobial resistance.

In order to facilitate differential diagnosis of tuberculosis and pneumonia in children, the study sets out to assess two rapid triage tools used individually or in combination: blood biomarkers and the measurement of blood oxygen saturation. Additionally, the study will trial artificial intelligence in the interpretation of pulmonary X-rays. Conducted directly in hospital settings, RISK4Kids will be rolled out to children under ten presenting signs of respiratory infection.

The preparatory steps for the study were carried out in 2025: protocol validation, obtaining the agreement of local ethics committees, regulatory compliance ensured by the Mérieux Foundation in its role as promoter of the study, harmonization of documentation, and procurement of reagents and consumables. Recruitment began in October 2025.

The RISK4Kids project emerged from cooperation between several Bangladesh hospitals, BITID (Bangladesh Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases), icddr,b (International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh), and the Mérieux Foundation, with financial support from the AnBer Foundation.

The Mérieux Foundation has been supporting the diagnosis and research activities of the National Tuberculosis Control Program in Lebanon since 2018, against a backdrop of alarming deterioration in the country’s healthcare infrastructure. In the absence of up-to-date national recommendations for the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis, the Foundation conducted a study taking into account the specific demographic and epidemiological features related to the presence of several high-risk populations in Lebanon: migrants, health workers, contact cases, and prisoners.

In 2025, the conclusions of this work led to the establishment of new national recommendations for the screening of tuberculosis. These conclusions were presented at the first meeting organized by the Lebanese health company FMPS Holding to mark World Tuberculosis Day on April 4, 2025.

The work also contributed to the publication of the report entitled “Tuberculosis at the crossroads: urgent action for migrant and refugee health in a turbulent era,” in BMJ Global Health in September 2025. Due to its strategic role in Lebanon, the Mérieux Foundation was asked by the WHO, in partnership with the Qatar Foundation, to contribute to this report, which put forward strategic political recommendations for combating the disease amid crises and budget restrictions.

An extension of the WHO TRICYCLE project, TRIuMPH (Tricycle Upscaling Monitoring for Public Health) aimed to adapt and extend the TRICYCLE protocol on a national scale to achieve integrated AMR surveillance in Malaysia, Pakistan, and Madagascar. Launched in 2020 through an international consortium involving public health institutions, research laboratories, and training centers in Madagascar, the Netherlands, France, Malaysia, and Pakistan, the project came to an end in 2025.

Using simplified, harmonized methods, the project focused on Escherichia coli as an indicator species for multidrug-resistant bacteria. Found in human health, animal health, and the environment, E. coli enabled the circulation of AMR to be evaluated through all three pillars of the One Health concept. The improvements to the TRICYCLE protocol also included a search for carbapenemase-producing enterobacteriaceae (CPE) in all three sectors. The Mérieux Foundation was responsible for the molecular characterization of CPE strains isolated in the human sector in Madagascar, working with the ten hospital laboratories in the RESAMAD network and the Charles Mérieux Center for Infectious Disease in Antananarivo.

By taking a simplified, integrated approach to antimicrobial resistance surveillance, TRIuMPH demonstrated the feasibility of a transferable, sustainable, intersectoral model for national public health policies. The project received support from major funding organizations, including the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, which financed the JPIAMR program (Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance) behind the project in Madagascar.

The closing meeting of the TRIuMPH consortium was held in September 2025 at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands. The results from the three countries where the project took place were presented to national ministries and international organizations, together with feedback about how the surveillance was implemented.

The WHO has recommended the introduction of the PCV vaccine into childhood vaccination programs since 2007 in order to combat Streptococcus pneumoniae, one of the main agents responsible for lower respiratory tract infections in children under five. As the benefits of this strategy vary depending on the context, the vaccination coverage rate and the diversity of strains in circulation, the Mérieux Foundation carried out the PCV study to guide public health decision-making and strengthen the fight against pneumococcal infection in high-risk regions.

The study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of colonization by Streptococcus pneumoniae in a context where PCV had recently been deployed: it was conducted in hospital settings in Cambodia, India, and Paraguay in children under five and the adults they live with. Finalized in 2025, it made it possible to establish a central protocol for generating prevalence data across different epidemiological contexts.

The results issued by the GABRIEL network member laboratories in the three countries involved in the study show that pneumococcal colonization remains frequent among children despite the introduction of the vaccine: over 30% in India and Cambodia and nearly 40% in Paraguay. The study also highlighted the phenomenon of serotype replacement: the gradual replacement of vaccine serotypes by strains not included in the vaccine, indicating that serotypes continue to evolve.

This data confirms the importance of surveillance to ensure that vaccine policies can be adjusted and the emergence of new potentially pathogenic serotypes can be anticipated. In Paraguay, the study also showed that antibiotic resistance is frequent and growing relative to previous studies.