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History

The Early Years of PAC-CI (1996–2010)

At the heart of its mission: training and research that benefits the public

The French National Agency for Research on AIDS and Viral Hepatitis (ANRS) was established in 1992 by the French government to promote research on HIV/AIDS. The PAC-CI Program is one of the ANRS’s “research sites,” operating in eight partner countries (Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Brazil, Cambodia, and Vietnam).

The PAC-CI Program was formally established in 1996 through an agreement between the Ivorian Ministry of Health, the Ivorian Ministry of Economy and Finance, the French Ministry of Cooperation, and the ANRS.

This founding agreement established two objectives:

  1. To train health care personnel in medical research;
  2. To conduct research on HIV/AIDS, the results of which would benefit affected populations.

The 2010s

Expansion of research topics, broadening of partnerships, and deepening of the program’s roots in Côte d’Ivoire

In 2010, recognizing the program’s success, the ANRS and the Ivorian Ministry of Health invited new partners to sign a new framework agreement to permanently integrate PAC-CI’s activities into the French and Ivorian academic landscapes, with the following effects:

  1. Expanding PAC-CI’s scope to include all infectious diseases
  2. Expanding PAC-CI’s governing bodies, which now include, in France, the ANRS, Inserm, and the University of Bordeaux; and in Côte d’Ivoire, the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene, the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, and the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

Since 2013, PAC-CI has held the status of “International Associated Laboratory” (LIA) granted by Inserm, the University of Bordeaux, and Felix Houphouët Boigny University in Abidjan. To date, PAC-CI is the only Inserm International Associated Laboratory (LIA) based in sub-Saharan Africa. This LIA has three objectives:

  1. To promote the development of biomedical research related to HIV and other infectious diseases in sub-Saharan Africa,
  2. To increase exchanges among academics, researchers, and, where applicable, technical and administrative staff
  3. To promote student exchanges