Human diseases are as old as creation and have lived with humans throughout the centuries. However, changing climatic conditions, changing human behaviours, rapid population growth and industrialisation have led to the emergence of new infections and the re-emergence of once-forgotten ones. Although human health could be affected by many factors (physical, chemical, biological, and radiological), diseases caused by microorganisms (biological factors) are critical because of their potential to spread globally rapidly. Furthermore, many of these microorganisms have become resistant to almost all known antibiotics, including last-resorts ones. This increases hospital stay, morbidity, mortality, and treatment cost, exerting tremendous pressure on health systems. This is more severe in developing countries where these diseases are more frequent and the health systems are weak.

ERF researches some of these diseases, especially antimicrobial-resistant ones, identifying factors that contribute to their spread and proposing possible surveillance mechanisms to control them.