International
Inauguration of the Institut Pasteur de Guinée
On April 15, 2026, the Institut Pasteur de Guinée was officially inaugurated in Conakry, at a ceremony attended by several prominent national and international figures, including the Guinean Prime Minister Amadou Oury Bah, several Guinean ministers, the French Ambassador to Guinea and Sierre Leone Luc Briard, the AFD, a key financial partner in the project, and representatives from the Institut Pasteur de Dakar, the Institut Pasteur de Bangui, the Institut Pasteur de Côte d'Ivoire, and CERMES in Niger. The Institut Pasteur in Paris was represented by Odette Tomescu-Hatto, Executive Vice-President International Affairs, and Christophe d'Enfert, Senior Scientific Advisor International Affairs.
The initiative for the establishment of this institute began in 2014, during the worst Ebola outbreak that West Africa has ever experienced. It was in this context that the Guinean President, Alpha Condé, reached out to France to ask for cooperation. The Institut Pasteur and the Republic of Guinea signed a framework agreement on November 28, 2014, followed in September 2015 by a memorandum of understanding formalizing the creation of the Institut Pasteur de Guinée. From then on, for nearly ten years, with the decisive support of the AFD, Expertise France and the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, the Institut Pasteur supported the establishment, building and development of the institute, offering its scientific and technical expertise, administrative and financial skills and financial backing. Within the Institut Pasteur, several teams were involved in the project, including the International Affairs Department, the Financial Affairs Department, the Legal Affairs Department and the Corporate Social Responsibility and Technical Resources Department.
The Institut Pasteur de Guinée has been operational since 2018 and moved to its main building at the end of 2020. It has now become an independent Guinean institution, a legal entity under Guinean law. Since January 2016, the Institut Pasteur de Guinée has been led by Dr. Noël Tordo. It specializes in surveillance and research on diseases with epidemic potential, via a One Health approach. It performed 30,000 COVID-19 diagnoses, sequenced the Ebola virus during the resurgence in 2021, and has developed innovative epidemiological surveillance tools such as monitoring the measles virus in wastewater.
Watch the video of the opening ceremony
"These achievements, in less than ten years, say a lot about the teams that drive this institute on a daily basis. I would like to thank them. First, Noël Tordo, who arrived in Guinea during the Ebola outbreak and has directed the institute since January 2016 with remarkable consistency. I also want to thank all the Institut Pasteur teams that have contributed to this project – especially the Operations Unit in the Department of International Affairs, and particularly Magali Lago, who has devoted a huge amount of care and perseverance to the project over the years. My mind also goes to the many Institut Pasteur departments and teams, especially those in the Legal Affairs Department and the Corporate Social Responsibility and Technical Resources Department, all of which offered their own expertise at different stages of the project."
Odette Tomascu-Hatto, Executive Vice-President International Affairs
"In 1912, Albert Calmette, a longtime colleague of Louis Pasteur and the inventor of the BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guérin), understood that the vaccine first needed to be tested on animals. He chose the chimpanzee, the closest primate to humans, and Guinea was the West African region with the most chimpanzees. The Loos Islands were initially selected, but without success. The First World War put a temporary halt to the project, but in 1922 Calmette set up the first Institut Pasteur de Guinée in Kindia. Its reputation led to it being named "Pastoria," a name that lives on in Guinean memory.
The crisis in relations between Guinea and France in 1958 did not stop Institut Pasteur scientists from remaining at Pastoria until 1965 to keep producing the rabies and smallpox vaccines, as well as antivenoms for snake bites.
Fifty years later, when the Guinean President reached out to France for support in controlling the Ebola virus outbreak, it was something of a renaissance for the Institut Pasteur de Guinée, always driven by the same desire to serve the country. The Institut Pasteur de Guinée is a fully Guinean institute for the benefit of research and public health in Guinea."
Noël Tordo, Director of the Institut Pasteur de Guinée
"I began to be involved in the Institut Pasteur de Guinée project in 2015, with the first studies on constructing the building that now houses the BSL3 laboratory, as well as the surveys needed to renovate some premises at Gamal Abdel Nasser University of Conakry (UGANC) so that the scientific research could get under way as soon as possible.
It was not easy to find architects, contractors and companies that already had the skills needed to build containment laboratories.
So it was satisfying to share the expertise of the Real Estate and Technical Department on the Paris campus to help develop local know-how. More than a decade on, it is very rewarding to see the project finished, with this inauguration ceremony – all the building work completed and the laboratories fully functional."
Hervé Ali Mandjee, Head of Contracting and Project Management, DRSE-RT / Real Estate and Technical Department
"The plan for the Institut Pasteur de Guinée will always be a special memory for me – it was the project that led to my recruitment as junior project coordinator within the International Affairs Department and that really developed my professional expertise, under the leadership of Maud Seguy and Marc Jouan.
As coordinator of this project funded by the French Development Agency (AFD), my role was to bring together and coordinate the expertise in various fields on the Institut Pasteur campus in Paris – technical, legal, financial and scientific. I was also responsible for liaising between the teams at the Institut Pasteur de Guinée in Conakry and the experts on campus, for administrative discussions with the contractor on construction matters, and institutional relations with the funder. I was in charge of handing over deliverables to the AFD and complying with the timetable and contractual requirements related to the funding obtained, especially in the area of procurement procedures.
The project left its mark on me because of the duration, the many challenges and also the extremely positive and fruitful collaboration and links we developed. Seeing the Institut Pasteur de Guinée fully operational today, its teams at work in the newly built core facilities and its activities in the field in what is a particularly demanding environment, gives real meaning to all the years spent on the project. As well as the achievement itself, what will remain with me is the collective journey, built around people, commitment, perseverance and trust."
Magali Lago, Senior Project Coordinator of Operations Unit in the International Affairs Department
"I had the opportunity to contribute to this project, which lies at the intersection of scientific, health, and human issues, focusing on legal and risk management aspects.
It was a demanding and formative experience. We had to secure complex arrangements, anticipate risks in a constantly changing environment, and manage sensitive situations, all while maintaining a constant balance between legal rigor and operational pragmatism.
Working with diverse expertise and partners from varied backgrounds, reconciling sometimes divergent perspectives, and building lasting trust: these are undoubtedly the most memorable aspects.
Ten years is a time of doubts, adjustments, initiative, and sometimes creativity, but also a time for reevaluation. Above all, it is the time needed to build something solid and lasting. For me, this project embodies what a demanding collaboration can achieve when driven by a meaningful goal. The inauguration was not an end in itself, but the culmination of patient work and the promise of a long-term impact."
Nahima AITLKAID, Head of the Risk Management, Governance, and Compliance Department - Legal Department.