From 14 to 15 March 2017, the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) organized its annual retreat 2017 at Bildungszentrum 21 in Basel, Switzerland. The goals of this meeting were (I) to provide a platform for exchanges between project promoters across departments and units of the institution in order to promote better synergy and a shared vision, (ii) to revisit the core values of Swiss TPH, the 2017 strategy -2020 and the external evaluation report, (iii) to Map the institutional partnership across all continents where the institution is active.

The first day was opened by Prof. Juerg Utzinger (Director of the Swiss TPH), who gave a presentation on retirement goals, directions and expectations, but thanked all delegations from abroad, including Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Tanzania and the United States. Following him, Dr. Honorati Masanja (Director of Ifakara Health Institute (IHI)) and Prof. Bassirou Bonfoh (Director General of CSRS and Afrique One-ASPIRE) presented the strategic plans of their respective institutions.

The Director General of CSRS and Afrique One-ASPIRE made a presentation entitled: ‘the news are good’ meaning the administrative and scientific health of the institution. He also highlighted the four strategic axes of the CSRS, the 10 Principal Areas of Activity, the dynamics of research groups and units. He focused on strengthening the security system to adapt to the environment, launching of Afrique One-ASPIRE with the recruitment of 44 students and researchers and the setting up of the new Grant Support Unit with the support of Swiss TPH. The presentation of the main strategic developments of the different fields of activity, the thematic nodes of research were followed by the group and plenary sessions. The occasion was seized for a call for the valuation of the CSRS platform through the south-south partnership (IHI-CSRS axis).