Peter Ndumbe is in great demand. As a virologist at the University of Yaound茅 I studying a rare variant of HIV, he is besieged with requests for collaboration from scientists in the US and Europe. But these would-be collaborators are rarely interested in a genuine partnership, says Ndumbe. Most are merely intent on getting their hands on blood samples from the patients he studies.
Ndumbe鈥檚 problem is commonplace in African biomedical research. The relationship between North and South is inherently unequal. The Africans鈥� sole advantage is clinical samples. 鈥淲e have the patients, they don鈥檛,鈥� says Vincent Titanji, who works on river blindness at the University of Buea in Cameroon. But because most African governments give almost no support to research, the Northern partner has the upper hand. 鈥淗e has the money, you don鈥檛,鈥� says Ndumbe. And that lays African researchers open to exploitation by dreaded 鈥渟afari scientists鈥� who fly in, grab materials and knowledge, fly out again and then take all the credit 鈥� often even forgetting to tell their African 鈥渃olleagues鈥� of the results.
The fear of being ripped off also makes scientists wary of giving away details of their ideas in grant proposals. 鈥淚f you have something worthwhile, you don鈥檛 ask for funding,鈥� says Jacob Ngu at the University of Yaound茅 I, whose group has developed a test to detect antigens from Onchocerca volvulus, the parasite that causes river blindness. The test, which can be used on a teardrop, identifies people at high risk of blindness, and is some 15 times cheaper to use than the standard method. But rather than seek a grant, Ngu鈥檚 team scrimped and saved meagre lab funds to hang on to their idea.
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When it comes to product development, scientists suffer from the lack of a business culture. Ngu reckons he needs about half a million dollars to get his antigen test off the ground, but no one in industry seems to be interested. 鈥淥ur biggest problem is one of marketing. I don鈥檛 know anything about business.鈥�
His problems would be familiar to scientists across Africa. 杏吧原创s at the Kenya Medical Research Institute in Nairobi have invented a cheap test for screening blood donations for hepatitis B. But without a company to snap it up or active government support, KEMRI is making, packing and distributing the test at its own expense.
Lack of government interest is part of the problem in many countries. 鈥淭echnology and science are not viewed in developing countries as critical ingredients to growth,鈥� admits Karega Mutahi, permanent secretary for Kenya鈥檚 National Council for Science and Technology. And this culture has shelved many a potential moneyspinner. At the University of Nairobi, for example, scientists have developed a pilot plant for producing different strains of rhizobia, bacteria that can be used instead of fertiliser because they help legumes to fix nitrogen. It is possible to buy the rhizobia direct from the plant, but no one has assessed how well the product works, or acted to step up production.
Industry also has to take a share of the blame. In Kenya the market is dominated by multinational companies that were encouraged to move in by the old colonial government. The British saw Kenya chiefly as a place for farming and the legacy of their policies hangs on. Agriculture still gets 60 per cent of the R&D budget and industrial technology has a raw deal.
With minimal investment in R&D from most African governments, scientists have to rely on foreign donors. And donor governments鈥� foreign policies often determine funding decisions. For example, the US Agency for International Development recently closed its office in Cameroon, following widespread evidence of fraud in the elections of 1993. As a result, some projects have lost the agency鈥檚 support. That would be fine, says Ndumbe, if the same standards were applied elsewhere. 鈥淏ut in Russia, you can shoot down parliamentarians and you鈥檙e still a democrat,鈥� he says.
Ultimately, most researchers believe, the solutions lie at home. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 blame the international community all of the time,鈥� says Ngu 鈥淲hat Cameroon and all developing countries need is good managers.鈥� (see Graphs) (see Graphs)
