Two Guinean research professors receive award for work on infectious diseases in developing countries
On Wednesday, June 18, 2025, at the Institut de France in Paris, Professors Alpha Kabinet Keita and Abdoulaye Touré were officially awarded the 2025 Christophe Mérieux Prize. This internationally renowned scientific distinction recognizes their exceptional commitment to the fight against infectious diseases in Guinea and West Africa.
The Christophe Mérieux Prize, worth €500,000 and awarded each year by the Christophe and Rodolphe Mérieux Foundation – Institut de France, honors researchers working on infectious diseases in developing countries. Professors Alpha Kabinet Keita and Abdoulaye Touré, leading figures in Guinean biomedical research, are being honored for a career marked by excellence and scientific resilience.
“This award recognizes our work over the past 10 to 15 years on hemorrhagic fevers and many other emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases that cause epidemics in our countries,” said Prof. Abdoulaye Touré with great emotion.
Building high-quality research in a challenging environment
Professor Alpha Kabinet Keita, microbiologist and co-winner, highlighted the importance of this award as a symbol of a collective struggle: “The award also calls on our ability to build a team in a country with limited resources and, above all, to develop world-class research in a context that, at its core, may not be conducive to the development of research activities of this nature.”
His work focuses in particular on zoonoses, epidemiological surveillance and strengthening response mechanisms in support of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Guinea.
Antoine Triller, Permanent Secretary of the Academy of Sciences, emphasized the exemplary commitment of the two winners: “I have deep admiration for Professors Keita and Touré, who embody a generation of African scientists committed to excellence, quality research, and health sovereignty on the African continent. They are among those who are rising to this challenge.“
The warm applause from the audience, marking the presentation of the awards, was a testament to the respect and recognition that the scientific community has for them.
The award ceremony was attended by a large Guinean delegation of scientists, researchers, and senior officials, including the Secretary General of the Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research, and Innovation.
Training, sharing, and raising awareness
For the two researchers, this distinction is not an end in itself. They see it as encouragement to continue their mission. “With this award, we will continue to work on infectious diseases, but also to train many more young people, strengthen our reception and supervision capacities, and participate in the dissemination of research,” they said in unison.
The Christophe Mérieux Prize thus highlights the importance of research efforts in Africa, which are often carried out in complex conditions but lead to major scientific innovations that benefit the population. Professors Keita and Touré have become symbols of a scientific Africa that is moving forward, building, and inspiring.
Alpha Oumar Bagou Barry
This article was published by UniverSciences. It has been translated in English by Afriscitech.
