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  2. Where We Work

We work in remote communities where mothers and children, displaced persons and refugees are living in extreme need. To fight epidemics across borders, our networks of clinical and research laboratories reach patients who have little or no access to diagnostic testing services, and they help detect and respond to disease threats where and when they emerge.

In all the countries where we work, we have built strong, long-standing ties with partners at universities, hospitals, NGOs and health ministries. We count on our local partners to take the lead, designing and implementing projects that will make a lasting impact.

Today, Mérieux Foundation teams are active in the US, Europe and 13 resource-limited countries. Reflecting the diversity of the communities we serve, our teams are made up of individuals from diverse backgrounds, cultures and languages.

Our laboratory networks

Our networks may be national, connecting laboratories within a single country, or regional, for example in Southeast Asia and West Africa. We are proud of our global network of GABRIEL laboratories of excellence, spanning 16 countries and including 10 high-level Rodolphe Mérieux Laboratories built in outbreak-prone parts of the world.

Local networks

  • RESAMAD (Madagascar)
  • CamLab (Cambodia)
  • LabKham (Laos)
  • SPHaitiLAB (Haiti)

Regional networks

  • RESAOLAB (7 countries in West Africa) 
  • SEALAB (3 countries in Southeast Asia) 

Global networks

  • GABRIEL research network (16 countries)  
  • Sentinel laboratories built by the Mérieux Foundation

Family stories shaping a family foundation

Our geographic footprint is closely tied to our history. As a young doctor volunteering in Southeast Asia, Dr. Christophe Mérieux was troubled by the critical lack of access to reliable testing and quality laboratory services, an area that had been overlooked by multilateral aid and international funding. Under his impetus, the foundation took a new direction, moving its work to the field and creating a network of sentinel laboratories to act as early warning systems for infectious diseases: the Rodolphe Mérieux Laboratories, in the heart of the regions where epidemics emerge.

With its French origins, the Mérieux Foundation naturally began working in countries with strong francophone ties in West Africa and Southeast Asia, the Caribbean and Indian Ocean. Gradually, over decades, successful initiatives extended to neighboring countries and, in more recent years, our geographic scope has expanded to alleviate the suffering of forcibly displaced persons and refugees in Bangladesh, Iraq and Lebanon.

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