Founded in 1997, the Institute of Research in Health Sciences (Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la santé – IRSS) is one of the 4 specialized units of the National Center of Scientific and Technologic Research. The missions of the IRSS are to:

• • Conduct research that can provide solutions to priority health problems
• • To coordinate research in the health sector in Burkina
• • To valorize and disseminate the results of the research.

Research programs are focused on the following themes:

• • infectious and parasitic diseases;
• • health policies and systems;
• • maternal and child health;
• • nutrition;
• • traditional pharmacopoeia and medicinal plants;
• • traditional medicine and ethnomedicine;
• • drugs;
• • pesticides, chemicals and health.