Sep 02 2020 15 mins 3
Episode Five Africa Science Focus this week looks at whether African institutions are free to take independent decisions on research in the continent. African governments have not given research the attention it deserves, according to Alhaji Njai, a professor of infectious diseases and toxicology at the University of Sierra Leone and research fellow at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, USA. “African researchers are not in control of the research within Africa because if you are an African researcher…who wants to stay in Africa and do research with relevance and related to Africa, you find yourself at the mercy of foreign donors or foreign support because there isn’t research funds or research grants available for African researchers to tap into, so they tend to look outside”. Joseph Matovu, senior researcher from the School of Public Health, Makerere University in Uganda, says that while Uganda and some other African countries have recently set aside more funding for research and development, African research is heavily influenced by the developed societies such as Europe and North America. If you want to know anything about developments in science and health in Africa, send us your science questions for the experts — message WhatsApp +254799042513. Africa Science Focus, with Selly Amutabi. Listen, subscribe and leave a review:
