Helping
Africa
: Business as usual for some
While our pop stars,
celebrities and politicians are now putting their combined muscle behind
helping Africa, there has been a quiet revolution going on in
Scotland
for many years, with a great tradition of Africa and
Scotland
partnering in science. Numerous unsung heroes have dedicated their research
careers to helping
Africa
, through the application of new knowledge and scientific discoveries. Their
approach is broadly called sustainable development, so named as it is about giving a hand up,
rather than a hand out.
So as the spotlight is
turning to Africa, the G8 summit and Live8, it is timely and appropriate to
focus on some of the people and organisations operating in Scotland who have
been making substantial contributions to Africa without fanfare or
publicity, for many years.
The
Pioneers
Morris
Agaba is a geneticist. Ugandan-born, he has worked in
Kenya
for 6 years, previously spent 3
years studying here at
Stirling
University
, and retains strong ties with the Scottish scientific community. Twenty
years ago, while Morris was still deciding on his career path, a group of
Scottish veterinary scientists, led by Jack Doyle, Ross Gray and Max Murray,
were creating the International Laboratory for Research on Animal Diseases
in Nairobi. They were studying the Ndama breed of cattle in West Africa that
were resistant to trypanosomosis – a disease endemic in East Africa that
kills 4 million cattle yearly and costs the continent up to US$3 billion.
Max brought some Ndama cattle to
Kenya
, and began crossing them with the local cattle (Boran) to see if he could
breed in resistance.
This
project has continued, and almost two decades later Morris Agaba, the young
African veterinary scientist based at the International Livestock Research
Institute in Nairobi, took advantage of new scientific tools and started
comparing the genes of the Ndama with the human genome and the cow genome to
see if he could find matches. He found that there were many similarities,
and early results show that he may have discovered a gene that contributes
resistance to trypanosomosis.
According to Morris, “African trypanosomosis is probably the most important livestock disease
in
Africa
. It is labelled an “orphan” disease because
it is of little interest to investors in industrial countries. Scientists
have been battling with this cattle killer for decades, but like cancer, it
is proving difficult, and when difficult
becomes very difficult and takes too
long, R&D funding is inevitably reduced – so this disease is
orphaned again.
“African
trypanosomosis is strategically important to Africa – it doesn’t affect
any other part of the world, but it matters very much to
Africa
.”
The
Reality Checker
Christine Thuranira is an
economist working at
Edinburgh
University
’s Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine (CTVM). Christine is Kenyan and
came to
Scotland
6 years ago from the International Livestock Research Institute. She
recently earned a PhD from the
University
of
Edinburgh
specialising in livestock economics. As part of her research she collected
data from poor farmers in
Africa
and this gave her first-hand experience of the difficulties they face trying
to keep their animals healthy.
Although she is now many
miles from home, her primary interest still lies with helping developing
countries. Christine understands the problems of
Africa
and has a very clear focus – being an economist she is the “reality
checker”. She has one over-riding goal – finding out if scientific
discoveries will have real impact and will be of help to poor farmers.
Christine’s colleagues
at CTVM are seeking scientific solutions to tropical livestock diseases that
affect millions of people and incomes in
Africa
. One group is working as part of a global consortium, to develop a vaccine
that will protect milking cows from a deadly disease known as East Coast
fever – one of the biggest cattle killers in
Africa
, responsible for killing two cows every minute.
According to Christine,
“Practically everyone in
Africa
wants to own a dairy cow. But the present reality is that they can’t.
Giving them a cow won’t help either – because certain livestock diseases
are so prevalent in some regions in
Africa
that they will simply wipe out the cattle.”
“What I want to know
is: can farmers access and utilise the new technologies? How much will they
cost when they do become available, and most importantly, will farmers be
able to afford them?”
Christine won’t be
going to the G8 meeting in Gleneagles, but she will be attending what could
be billed as “the alternative G8” meeting in
Scotland
on 3-4 July. Africa, Science and the
Celtic Connection is the theme of that meeting being organised by the
Scottish-based Doyle Foundation. The Doyle Foundation was formed five years
ago to continue the pioneering work of a Scottish veterinary scientist, Dr
Jack Doyle, on livestock diseases in
Africa
. Scientists from the Scottish scientific community will be meeting with top
African scientists. None need convincing that
Africa
’s renewal and sustainable development should be a global top priority.
For them it will be business as usual – exploring how developments in
science can be mobilised for
Africa
’s development.
- ENDS -
Additional
Background Information
Bob Ward of the UK Royal
Society is urging G8 Leaders to get scientific in their approach to
Africa
. Speaking recently to the Inter Press Service News Agency, he said:
''If
some of the aid that has gone to
Africa
had been used to build the scientific capacity, we would be seeing a better
situation today.''
''There
could, for example, have been a better system of fresh water distribution,
and better agricultural methods.''
Source: Inter Press
Service News Agency New Release:
LONDON
, Jun 15 (IPS) -
Leading scientists from around the world are asking leaders of the G8
countries to get more scientific in their approach to the development of
Africa
. http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=29078
Media
Enquiries - Contact:
Margaret Macdonald-Levy
The Doyle Foundation
Glasgow
Mobile
: 0781 569 5768
Email: m_macdonald-levy@lineone.net
OR
Christine Thuranira
Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine
University
of
Edinburgh
Email: c.m.thuranira@sms.ed.ac.uk
The
Doyle Foundation