Steven Chandiwana

There are "many clever people" in African science, said Steven Chandiwana, but the infrastructure to support them does not exist. Chandiwana is associate dean and director of graduate studies, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Witwatersrand.

He has recruited as partners representatives of governments and institutions of southern African countries–Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho, Swaziland, and South Africa. The Center provides research and educational opportunities to scientists, reduces duplication of research efforts in the region, and assists governments in planning policies based on scientific evidence. African scientists–in particular graduate students–are trained in research methodology and in nuts-and-bolts skills such as grant-writing. By building these skills at home, said Chandiwana, Africans can bring more research dollars to their region while building and receiving knowledge.

The Internet is a significant tool in the effort. The Center is creating two databases: one of current research projects in the region and one of potential funding sources. "Virtual" scientific relationships between graduate students who can exchange ideas using the Internet are also being encouraged.

A parisitologist trained at Cornell University, Chandiwana has a particular interest in malaria. Two-and-a-half billion people in 90 countries are at risk for the disease, he said. There are 300 to 500 million cases in sub-Saharan Africa, where 3,000 people die of it each day, mostly pregnant women and children under the age of five. Malaria costs Africa $2 billion annually in direct and indirect costs, he said.

When 44 African leaders gathered in Abuja, Nigeria in 2000, they pledged to fight malaria through a variety of means which, they hoped, would cut mortality in half by 2010. Countries and donor organizations pledged $100 billion in new funds, and set goals to reach by 2005: for 60 percent of malaria sufferers to have access to appropriate treatment within 24 hours; for at least 60 percent of those at risk to benefit from a combination of community measures and personal measures (such as insecticide-treated nets); and for at least 60 percent of pregnant women to have access to malaria prophylaxis.

The region is falling well short of those goals, said Chandiwana. Right now, fewer than two percent of African children sleep under insecticide-treated nets. Disbursement of funds is falling below commitments made by donors, he added. What’s needed, he said, is political will and regional efforts that can be more focused. He concluded, "There are a lot of people in Africa who would like to do good work."

The talk was sponsored by the African Health Forum and the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases.

--CC