Africa’s foremost infectious disease expert, Dr. Dougbeh Chris Nyan has urged African leaders to “stop begging for technology, but support African scientists and innovators for the advancement of science research and production of biomedical products in Africa by Africans.”
Speaking at conference held at Harvard University during the panel discussion on the “Implications for Malaria Eradication in sub-Saharan Africa Dr. Nyan said that, Africa has some of the world’s brightest scientists and innovators who are capable of producing diagnostic kits, vaccines, and life-saving drugs, but the lack of research funding and support from African national governments make it difficult for African researchers to unfold their maximum potential.
“The solution for Africa’s problem lies in the hands of Africans,” Dr. Nyan stressed, adding that, “instead of begging for technology from the west to produce vaccines and diagnostics kits, African governments should invest in diaspora and home-grown African scientists and innovators that have the expertise to produce same on the African continent.”
The healthcare forum was an inaugural conference organized by the African Public Health Students Association of the T. H. Chan School of Public Health of the Harvard University in Boston and brought together, faculty, students, science researchers, policy makers, and innovators from Africa and the diaspora.
Speaking during the panel discussion on the “Implications for Malaria Eradication in sub-Saharan Africa,” Dr. Nyan said that, “Africa has some of the world’s brightest scientists and innovators who are capable of producing diagnostic kits, vaccines, and life-saving drugs, but the lack of research funding and support from African national governments make it difficult for African researchers to unfold their maximum potential.”
Contributing to the panel discussion, Tanzanian malaria researcher, Dr. Ally Olotu, noted that there is intensive work going on in Africa in malaria vaccine research, but that requires an ecosystem that will also involve government support to researchers.
Speaking further, Dr. Nyan, the NIH-trained biomedical scientist, “urged African governments to increase their country’s GDP for healthcare so as to strengthen research in science and medicine, and to avoid African researchers’ sole dependency on foreign grants to do research.”
