ANRS | Emerging Infectious Diseases, the new French research agency
In order to strengthen research on emerging infectious diseases in France, a new research agency was created on January 1, 2021, with the merging of two existing structures.
Resulting from the rapprochement of the Inserm-REACTing consortium with the French National Agency for Research on AIDS and Viral Hepatitis (ANRS), the ANRS |Emerging Infectious Diseases will be dedicated to the coordination and funding of scientific research in France. It will combine the scope of the two previous structures: HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), tuberculosis and emerging diseases (emerging respiratory infections such as Covid-19, viral hemorrhagic fevers, arboviruses), in all disciplines (basic research, clinical, public health and epidemiology, human and social sciences).
To effectively coordinate research on emerging infectious diseases, the new agency will build on the strengths of the two former entities, with an adapted scientific programming activity and an operational capacity to launch and manage calls for projects.
The ANRS | Emerging Infectious Diseases will develop three main axes: the coordination of research and scientific animation, the implementation of a fluid process of regulatory authorizations for research on Covid-19 and on emerging infectious diseases in humans, and the support of laboratories and research infrastructures. It will apply a “One Health” approach, addressing human and animal health as well as the impact of humans on the environment.
Patient associations and representatives of civil society will continue to play a key role in the new agency. Developing partnerships with national and international research institutes, universities and hospitals is a priority.
The aim of Director, Prof. Yazdan Yazdanpanah, Head of the Infectious Diseases Department of the Bichat-Claude Bernard Hospital (APHP), is to make the ANRS | Emerging Infectious Diseases an agency “by researchers and for researchers, serving scientific progress”.
Learn more on ANRS | Emerging Infectious Diseases (in French)
