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Covid-19: A ‘clarion call’ for Africa to invest in science

Image: Jimmy Baikovicius [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Flickr

Continental policy heavyweights emphasise role of science and innovation in fighting pandemic

A number of political heavyweights joined forces last week to call on African countries to invest in their R&D capacity in order to fight the coronavirus pandemic and other future health threats.

Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s president, said in a speech read by higher education minister Blade Nzimande on 31 July that the pandemic was a “clarion call” for African nations to invest in science and innovation. 

In his prepared address for a virtual South African research conference on the coronavirus, Ramaphosa said that scientific innovation “plays an increasingly prominent role” in overcoming resource constraints preventing vulnerable countries from managing the pandemic. South Africa had done so and reaped rewards, he said. 

Sarah Anyang Agbor, the African Union’s human resources, science and technology commissioner, echoed Ramaphosa’s call to arms. “Africa should develop capacity in science, technology and innovation to respond, mitigate and prepare for future pandemics,” she told the online conference 

She also called on African leaders to honour their long-standing ambition of committing 1 per cent of their countries’ GDP to R&D, and to “increase the funding for STI at national and regional levels”.

A third endorsement came from Tedros Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization. “Science and innovation has been at the forefront of the response,” he told the conference. Urging countries to pool their resources to fight the pandemic, he said: “Strategic partnerships in science, technology and innovation will play an important role in our economic recovery.”

However, in a written question to the conference, Thandi Mgwebi, deputy vice-chancellor, research, innovation and internationalisation at Nelson Mandela University in South Africa, asked how South African politicians could wax lyrical about the need for more science while simultaneously cutting the country’s science budget this year

“The cuts in the science budget come at a time when we need science the most. This is, to me, disingenuous to the cause,” she wrote, asking the science officials present whether the cuts to the science budget could be reconsidered. 

“We tried, but did not succeed,” was the written response from Phil Mjwara, director-general of the South African Department of Science and Innovation. “We hope [that], as we demonstrate what science, technology and innovation is and [what it] can do, we will be rewarded later,” he added.