The TUBAAT project
CLATs play a pivotal role in TB prevention and screening among precarious and vulnerable populations. The success of these missions relies largely on the dialogue between patient and healthcare provider.
Tuberculosis (TB) is a contagious respiratory disease strongly associated with social inequalities. Curbing the spread of TB relies on two main pillars: reliable diagnosis and patient treatment, combined with the screening of potentially infected individuals who have been exposed. Authorities currently entrust these tasks to Centres de Lutte Antituberculeuse (CLATs).
Diagnosing a patient with TB therefore requires healthcare stakeholders to act not only for and with the sick person but also with the entire social group to which they belong—taking into account the patient’s and their community’s history, their geographical movements, their past and present living environments, their professional activities, their travels, their care pathway, and the key figures involved in their care.
This need to pay attention to both the individual and the social justifies the importance of the anthropological approach in health.
The TUBAAT project proposes an approach combining medicine, microbiology, evolutionary eco-epidemiology, and anthropology to address health issues affecting vulnerable populations with tuberculosis in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (AURA) region, with the aim of proposing intervention measures that can anticipate needs and improve access to care for better tuberculosis control.
This innovative project aims to establish an effective and sustainable connected TB surveillance network across the AURA region by fostering an interdisciplinary network capable of responding quickly and efficiently to the emergence of infectious diseases among vulnerable populations—including conditions other than TB.
Project leaders:
Claire HARPET
Claire Harpet is an anthropologist and research engineer at Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3. Her interdisciplinary research in the field of health focuses on how individuals perceive morbidity and care in a globalized world. She is particularly interested in infectious diseases and the issue of antibiotic resistance in countries characterized by stark societal contrasts.
In 2022, she led a collaborative work on antimicrobial resistance, framing the phenomenon as a social—rather than merely biological—fact. She is involved in “One Health” projects alongside stakeholders from the human health, animal health, and environmental sectors (including the SHAPE-Med-funded Comedia-Lyon project), contributing a distinct anthropological fieldwork and ethnographic methodological perspective.
Oana DUMITRESCU
Oana Dumitrescu is an Associate Professor at the Faculté de Médecine et Maïeutique Lyon Sud and a hospital practitioner heading the tuberculosis diagnostic laboratory at the Hospices Civils de Lyon. Specializing in bacteriology, her research focuses on innovative strategies to combat bacterial infections, particularly those caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. She leads the emerging “Lyon TB Study Group” within the Centre International de Recherche en Infectiologie (CIRI), where she investigates the epidemiological, immunological, and therapeutic aspects of tuberculosis.
