Since 2017,
building Africa’s
answer to AMR.
CEDBCAM Research Institute is a non-profit organisation established in May 2017 in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Our research teams, mentored by experienced and internationally recognised scientists, mobilise resources, coordinate ideas and run fine-tuned studies on antimicrobial resistance through the lens of One Health.
In April 2019, the United Nations warned that there is no time to wait to secure the future from drug-resistant infections. Misuse and overuse of antimicrobials drive resistance, and weak diagnostics, limited surveillance and gaps in infection prevention make it worse in low- and middle-income countries.
One Health, from day one.
Resistant bacteria move between people, animals, food and the environment. A threat in one compartment affects the others. That is why, since 2017, every study we design follows the One Health approach, to understand how resistance spreads and to contain it sustainably.
People
Patients, mothers and newborns, hospital staff and communities.
Animals
Livestock, abattoirs and the workers exposed to them.
Food
The food chain, from farm to plate.
Environment
Hospital environments and wastewater.
Ten years, one direction.
Select a year, or let the story play.
The question that started it all
Our founders publish Antibiotic resistance in the food chain: a developing-country perspective, setting the One Health direction we still follow.
2016
CEDBCAM-RI is born
In May, CEDBCAM Research Institute is established in Yaoundé as a non-profit organisation. The same year, our systematic review of the clinical and economic impact of antibiotic resistance in developing countries is published in PLOS ONE.
2017
First genomes, first stages
Our team speaks at the JIM conference in 2018 alongside Saffiatou Darboe, and publishes whole-genome sequences of resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae, E. coli and MRSA ST398 from pigs and abattoir workers in Cameroon, among the first such data for the country.
2018–19
First competitive grant
MEPOGENSA is awarded and genomic surveillance of resistant bacteria begins in Cameroon.
2020
Growing the portfolio
MEPOGENSA continues with RSTMH support, and CAREFOOD and MOTION extend our work to the food chain and to communities.
2021
2022
On the global stage
CEDBCAM-RI takes part in the inaugural meeting of the Quadripartite AMR Multi-Stakeholder Partnership Platform in Rome. At home, our bioinformatics course for bacterial AMR surveillance brings facilitators from five countries, and 100 secondary school pupils discover laboratory science.
2023
Hospitals at the centre
HOSPICARE I starts, focusing on resistant infections in hospital settings.
2024
A record year
NeoSep-Dx (ICGEB), BEACON (Alborada Trust), HOSPICARE II and PHC BANTOU are launched, and our publication record passes 50 peer-reviewed articles.
2025
ELEVATE and beyond
ELEVATE Act 2, our signature hands-on programme, trains a new cohort, our team visits partners at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, and our pathogen genomics hub opens its services to partners.
2026
The people who made it happen.
Biyem-Assi, Carrefour Saint Marc, Yaoundé · +237 694 043 050 · contacts@cedbcam.com