The Global Inter-Health Observatory of Microbiomes, a Unique Scientific Infrastructure
50 scientific cohorts, 25 countries, 5 continents: it is on this Alliance of Human Microbiome Cohorts, designed to expand, that the Global Inter-Health Observatory of Microbiomes will rely on. It is a new permanent infrastructure for the collection, harmonization, and analysis of microbiomes on a global scale. It was announced on April 8, 2026 and coordinated by INRAE, with VIB-KU Leuven and the support of Inserm, and led by the World Microbiome Partnership.
More than 500,000 human microbial profiles have already been collected through this alliance, with the goal of reaching 1 million human microbiomes by 2030, to ensure an unequal statistical representation to date, and then expanding the scope of research to microbiomes of soils, oceans, and plants by 2028, a more complex but necessary area to cover the entire One Health continuum.
The expected outcomes are twofold: to produce actionable knowledge for research and private innovation, and to provide public authorities and citizens with consensus health indicators and access to microbiome-based solutions.
“The microbiome is both a trigger and a solution to major societal challenges: the rise of chronic diseases, the development of antimicrobial resistance, biodiversity loss, climate change, and the transition of agricultural and food systems.” – Philippe Mauguin, CEO of INRAE
What One Million Profiles Make Possible
Human microbiomes vary significantly based on diet, agricultural practices, or exposure to contaminants. One of the strengths of this alliance lies in the diversity of collected profiles, with partners from dozens of countries with contrasting health and environmental contexts – Germany, Armenia, Cambodia, Cyprus, South Korea, Egypt, Spain, the United States, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, and many others. Research has faced several obstacles so far: lack of harmonized standards between countries, fragmented regulatory frameworks, and unequal access to innovations for teams from Southern countries. More than 70% of available human metagenomic data currently come from North America and Europe. These are challenges the observatory aims to address.
“Achieving one million harmonized profiles would unlock current barriers, with both methodological and scientific implications,” explains Thierry Caquet, vice president of INRAE in international affairs. “The approach’s strength lies in pooling the largest possible number of standardized data.”
This statistical power could help identify global signatures, develop early diagnostic biomarkers, advance personalized therapeutic solutions, and feed large-scale predictive models, particularly through artificial intelligence, opening up new perspectives in personalized medicine and precision nutrition. This initiative also has economic implications: the global market for microbiome-based products for human health is estimated at $1.4 billion in 2027, while the market for agricultural applications is estimated at nearly $12 billion annually.
“This ambitious international project requires engagement at all levels – governmental institutions and funding organizations – to support its development and foster dialogue between science and decision-making.” – Philippe Mauguin, CEO of INRAE
Shotgun Metagenomics, a French Expertise Since 2010
Shotgun metagenomics has been developed in France since 2010, notably through the MetaHIT project (2008-2013), a European consortium of 13 partners from 8 countries, financially supported by the European Commission. INRAE coordinated the scientific coordination. A publication in Nature in 2010 established a reference catalog of genes from the human gut microbiome, with 3.3 million genes, 150 times more than the human genome, which served as the basis for further research on human microbiome diversity and functions. The new global observatory builds on national programs such as France 2030 PEPR SAMS and France Cohortes, with 30 million euros invested through the French Gut project.
PREZODE: the World Bank Joins the Initiative for Zoonotic Disease Emergence Prevention
The World Bank has officially announced its support for the PREZODE initiative, with a targeted commitment to projects in Central and West Africa. The initiative has seen significant expansion: seven new countries have joined – Armenia, Cyprus, Ivory Coast, Indonesia, Kenya, Libya, and Mauritania – while its financial base has expanded with the entry of the Islamic Development Bank. Institutional agreements have been signed with the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa, the Pacific Community, and the Brazilian institution Fiocruz, anchoring PREZODE in the health architectures of 3 continents.
Launched at the One Planet Summit in 2021 by Cirad, INRAE, and IRD, PREZODE now has over 280 members and observers working towards the common goal of preventing zoonotic disease emergence. With international governance, it brings together 87 experts from 36 countries, collaborating with WHO, FAO, and OIE on disease emergence indicators, the ROI of One Health approaches, and science-policy-society dialogue.
“Since its inception, PREZODE was convinced that only a science-based One Health approach could lead to the necessary changes to prevent future pandemics. Five years later, we are proud of the progress made: PREZODE has attained global scale, with international governance involving 90 countries and ministerial engagement from 30 of them, bridging the gap between science and decision-making.” – Élizabeth Claverie de Saint-Martin, Philippe Mauguin, and Valérie Verdier, respective CEOs of CIRAD, INRAE, and IRD
“The issue is not whether there will be a new pandemic, but when and where it will occur,” Thierry Caquet points out. Over 30 new human pathogens have been identified in the last thirty years, with 75% of them of animal origin, such as Ebola, Nipah, avian flu, and Covid-19.
These emergences result from converging dynamics. As deforestation, agricultural expansion, and urbanization reduce the habitat for wildlife, and climate change shifts species’ ranges, the contacts between wildlife, livestock, and humans increase, allowing pathogens from remote ecosystems to emerge. About 1.7 million unknown viruses are currently circulating in wildlife, and without a profound transformation of prevention strategies, the pandemics they could trigger will be more frequent, spread faster, and claim more lives than Covid-19, as warned by IPBES in 2020.
Thierry Caquet highlights a structural challenge in public action: “Prevention is inherently less visible. As long as no crisis occurs, it may seem like an unjustified cost, but when a crisis erupts, its absence becomes evident.” The IPBES report assessed the economic cost of pandemics as up to 100 times higher than prevention policies.
In the field, community-based One Health surveillance systems are active through PREZODE in 16 low- and middle-income countries, funded by AFD. Additionally, 9 PEPR research projects, representing 25 million euros, are ongoing in France, including several in overseas French territories and internationally. PREZODE has actively participated in negotiations for the international agreement on pandemics, promoting common positions between North and South, and has conducted a global survey of One Health initiatives in member countries.
These two initiatives are part of a unified One Health vision, which is now central to INRAE and reflects a shift in how these issues are addressed. Their international dimension allows them to “bring together scientific communities around common frameworks, raise new research questions, and generate projects that no single institution could carry alone,” as Thierry Caquet explains. They also align research with action-oriented strategies and public policies. “We are not implementing One Health for the sake of it. We are doing it because there are human communities at stake.” Visible, measurable, and governable prevention.
