Child Health Research Foundation (CHRF)

What Child Health Research Foundation (CHRF) does

Child Health Research Foundation (CHRF) is a Bangladesh-based non-profit research organization founded in 2007 and headquartered in Dhaka, with approximately 108 employees. CHRF operates an integrated platform combining infectious disease surveillance, pathogen genomics, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) monitoring, demographic surveillance, and clinical trials focused on pediatric infections. Its core technical capabilities rest on next-generation sequencing infrastructure — including Bangladesh's first iSeq100 (acquired 2018) and a NextSeq 2000 (acquired 2021) — together with single-cell genomics capacity, the first such dataset from Bangladesh having been contributed to the Human Cell Atlas in 2024. The foundation runs the longest continuous typhoid surveillance program in the country (24+ years), operates community-based demographic surveillance at Mirzapur and Sylhet, and conducts clinical research on neonatal sepsis, meningitis, pneumonia, COVID-19, and enteric fever.

CHRF's value proposition combines evidence generation with direct policy advocacy, distinguishing it from purely academic research groups. The organization's surveillance and genomic data have directly informed Bangladesh's National Expanded Programme on Immunization, contributing to the introduction of the Hib vaccine in 2009 and the Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV10) in 2015. Multi-country collaborations — including SEAP Phase II (Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, funded by Sabin Vaccine Institute via the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation), ANISA, NeoSep1, and the USAID-funded SAT trial — extend its reach across South Asia and into international clinical research consortia.

As a non-profit, CHRF does not operate a commercial revenue or pricing model. Funding is sourced from institutional grants and donors, primarily the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Sabin Vaccine Institute, USAID, Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, and ICDDR,B, supplemented by in-kind support from Illumina for the 2023 NGS Training Lab. The organization serves government health programs, public hospitals (Dhaka Shishu Hospital, Shishu Sasthya Hospital, ICMH, Chittagong Ma O Shishu Hospital, Kumudini Hospital), and the broader scientific community, and runs the Building Scientists for Bangladesh training program to build local genomics capacity. Recognition includes the Ekushey Padak (Bangladesh's second-highest civilian award), acknowledgments from WHO, UNESCO, BMGF, and the American Society of Microbiology, and the 2026 Sabin Vaccine Institute Rising Star Award to Dr. Senjuti Saha.

Name

Child Health Research Foundation (CHRF)

Legal name

Child Health Research Foundation

Website

https://chrfbd.org

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Child Health Research Foundation (CHRF) is a Bangladesh-based non-profit that combines infectious disease surveillance, pathogen genomics, and AMR monitoring to generate evidence that has shaped the country's National Immunization Programme and supported regional clinical research across South Asia.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Public Health Research Services

NAICS

Medical Laboratories (621511), Medical and Diagnostic Laboratories (6215)

SIC

Services-Medical Laboratories (8071), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Pediatric Infectious Disease (HLAKAGAE)

Keywords

• Infectious disease surveillance
• Genomic sequencing services
• Antimicrobial resistance research
• Pediatric clinical trials
• Child health research

Headquarters

HQ city

Dhaka

HQ country

Bangladesh

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Child Health Research Foundation (CHRF) operates hospital- and community-based surveillance, genomic and AMR research, and pediatric clinical trials for infectious diseases (typhoid/enteric fever, pneumonia, meningitis, neonatal sepsis) in Bangladesh. It generates laboratory and epidemiological evidence that informs WHO and national child-health treatment guidelines, and runs a postdoctoral training program to build local scientific capacity.

Product overview

Child Health Research Foundation (CHRF) is a non-profit research organization focused on preventing infections and saving lives in Bangladesh through evidence generation and policy advocacy. The organization operates a unified research platform combining disease surveillance, genomics, and antimicrobial resistance monitoring. Their core offerings include infectious disease research programs covering meningitis, typhoid, pneumonia, and COVID-19; genomic sequencing capabilities including next-generation sequencing and single-cell genomics for the Human Cell Atlas; demographic and community surveillance; and clinical trials for antibiotic regimens. Their advocacy work has led to the introduction of life-saving vaccines into Bangladesh's National Immunization Program. CHRF also runs the Building Scientists for Bangladesh training program to develop scientific capacity in the country.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Pediatric Infectious Disease Surveillance Program
• Genomic Surveillance of Pathogens
• Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Surveillance and Research

Quantifiable outcome

• Hib vaccine introduced into Bangladesh's National EPI in 2009
• +3 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• NeoSep1 ConsortiumcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026International clinical trial effort to identify more effective antibiotic combinations to treat neonatal sepsis, conducted in high-burden countries including Bangladesh.
• IlluminacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2023Supported establishment of Next-Generation Sequencing Training Lab at CHRF, dedicated solely for training on pathogen genomics.
• SEAP Consortium (Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 August 2016Multi-country collaborative research initiative - Surveillance for Enteric Fever in Asia Project Phase II - generating comprehensive data on typhoid and paratyphoid burden in three countries.
• ICDDR,BmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative partnership where ICDDR,B serves as Data Coordination Centre (DCC) for SEAP Phase II project data management across multiple countries.
• Saving Newborn Lives (Save the Children-US)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated on research for community-based management of infections in young infants, building on previous Projahnmo trial in Sylhet district.
• ANISA CollaborationmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMulti-country collaboration investigating etiology of neonatal infection in South Asia, with productive collaborations with National Institutes.
• University of Chittagong (Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Department)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDecentralized genomics initiative where SARS-CoV-2 sequencing was performed at NRICh Lab to extend genomic surveillance capacity.
• Dhaka Shishu HospitalmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor pediatric hospital participating in surveillance studies and clinical trials.
• Shishu Sasthya Hospital, DhakaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerUrban hospital participating in SAT clinical trial for outpatient treatment of suspected sepsis in young infants.
• Institute of Child and Mother Health Hospital, DhakaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerUrban hospital participating in SAT clinical trial for outpatient treatment of suspected sepsis in young infants.
• Chittagong Ma O Shishu HospitalminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPediatric hospital in Chittagong participating in clinical surveillance studies.
• Kumudini HospitalminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHospital participating in antibiotic regimen studies for neonatal sepsis treatment.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Navrongo Health Research Centre: Ghana-based health research centre running a long-standing HDSS and child-health surveillance platform in a rural LMIC setting. Closest analogue to CHRF's Mirzapur community surveillance work in terms of demographic-surveillance methodology.
• MRC Unit The Gambia at LSHTM: Long-running demographic and infectious-disease surveillance site in West Africa operating under a tropical-medicine and child-health mandate. Highly comparable operating model to CHRF's Mirzapur demographic-surveillance site and pediatric-infectious-disease focus.
• Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi): Non-profit R&D organization focused on developing new treatments for neglected infectious diseases, with operations in multiple disease-endemic countries. Comparable non-profit model and pediatric-infectious-disease mandate to CHRF.
• icddr,b: Bangladesh-based global health research institute with overlapping focus on infectious disease surveillance, child health, and clinical trials. The closest comparable institution domestically, sharing many of CHRF's hospital network and donor relationships (including SEAP Phase II data coordination).
• Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND): Switzerland-headquartered non-profit developing and delivering diagnostics for infectious diseases in LMICs. Highly comparable to CHRF's pathogen genomics and new-diagnostic design work, and similarly funded by BMGF and other global-health donors.
• Wellcome Sanger Institute: UK-based genomic research institute running large-scale pathogen surveillance programs (e.g., the Wellcome Sanger parasite and bacterial genomics). Directly comparable on the genomic-surveillance and population-pathogen-genomics axis that CHRF is building out.
• Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI): Kenya's national medical research institute, combining infectious disease surveillance, genomics, AMR monitoring, and clinical trials in a LMIC setting. Closest structural analogue to CHRF outside of South Asia, with similar funder mix including BMGF and USAID.

Others

• INDEPTH Network: International network of health and demographic surveillance system (HDSS) sites across LMICs. Directly comparable to CHRF's Mirzapur demographic-surveillance platform, but operates as a coordinating consortium rather than a single research foundation.

Broad incumbents

• Broad Institute: US-based genomics and infectious-disease research institute running large pathogen-genomics and AMR surveillance programs (e.g., BWA, NDARO). Overlaps with CHRF on pathogen genomics but at much larger scale and with broader scope.
• Institut Pasteur: Historic global infectious-disease research institute with an international network of 32 institutes. Operates pathogen genomics, AMR surveillance, and vaccine-related research at substantially larger scale, but pursues the same foundational disease-burden evidence generation as CHRF.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/chrfbd
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCo5luDH7uchr4fWVlTyE0Og/featured
• Facebookfacebook.com/bdchrf
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/child-health-research-foundation
• Instagraminstagram.com/chrfbd/?hl=en

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Child Health Research Foundation (CHRF)