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Health in Transition

It is no longer rare for inhabitants of the Global South to die from cancer or diabetes. In these regions, non-communicable diseases now cause more deaths than infectious ones. This is due to changing diets and new—more urban and industrialised—lifestyle habits. Populations must also cope with the...
Marilyne Bonnet, souriante, sur un fond végétal, posant à côté d'un panneau indiquant "Epicentre"

Maryline Bonnet: from humanitarian medicine to clinical research

Distinguished scientists do not always follow a traditional academic path. That is certainly true for Maryline Bonnet who just received the Christophe Mérieux Prize for her work fighting tuberculosis and HIV. She began her career as a practising pulmonologist travelling the globe to care for people...

Leaving poverty behind: microcredit or unconditional gifts?

During the International Year of Microcredit in 2005, the World Bank presented microcredit as an effective tool for fighting hunger and extreme poverty. Thirteen years later, what can we say on the subject? Does microcredit help raise people out of poverty? If not, what are the gaps in its...

4 per 1000 initiative

Capturing carbon in the air and storing it in the ground to fight climate change: this is the goal of the ambitious 4 per 1000 strategy. This initiative, the subject of an international research programme , is mobilising several teams at the IRD.

Verbal autopsies: a public health tool

Months after the burial a questionnaire to people close to the deceased allow to establish cause of death when it hadn’t been certified by a professional.
trois-jeunes-indiennes-vues-de-dos

How the world deals with abortion

Voluntary termination of pregnancy is the subject of ideological debate as well as health policies. Demographer Agnès Guillaume, co-author with Clémentine Rossier of an extensive review of the subject*, sheds light on the right, access to and practice of abortion in the world today.
black-bass

Biodiversity of freshwater fish in turmoil

In the last few centuries, 15% of new fish species have been introduced by Man into rivers across the world. Researchers have found that these introductions alter the ecosystem to a much larger extent than originally anticipated.
Wild form of millet in the Sahara

Genetic diversity in millet: a past and future adaptive advantage

Having sequenced the millet genome, an international consortium involving French researchers from IRD, Indian, Chinese researchers and numerous laboratories from the North and South, studied different wild and cultivated varieties. This allowed them to trace the history of cultivated millet and...
Cowpea roots bear nodules which contain nitrogen-fixing bacteria.

Lipids that boost symbiosis

Certain legumes form a symbiotic relationship with bacteria! Tucked into their roots, these bacteria increase the crop yield of these plants. These bacteria, capable of producing lipid molecules known as hopanoids, therefore seem to provide a distinct advantage.
aedes-albopictus

The Asian tiger mosquito enjoys car journeys

Original research shows the role of car journeys in the spread of the Asian tiger mosquito in Europe. Accustomed to freight transportation, this invasive species also uses passenger vehicles to propagate. It is seemingly found in 5 out of 1,000 cars.