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Chemists Urged To Play Strong Role In Solving Africa's Problems • At conference held at the University of Ghana, chemists discuss industrial, environmental, and health problems facing Africa Lois R. Ember, C&EN Washington n her opening address to the 6th International Chemistry Confer ence in Africa (ICCA), Ghana's minister for the environment, science, and technology, Christina E. AmoakoNuama, stressed the many roles chem ists can play in contributing to Africa's economic development. Her focus wasn't unique or unexpect ed. Shem O. Wandiga, a chemist from Kenya and chairman of the ICCA steer ing committee, reminded the sixth con ference that all previous meetings, be ginning with the first one 15 years ago in Nairobi, Kenya, "have discussed ways and means through which our subject, chemistry, can help develop Africa." But this conference, held the first week of August on the campus of the University of Ghana at Legon, just out side Accra, was historic. As in previous conferences, chemists from Europe, Asia, and North America—about 250 in all—joined their African colleagues in the triennial event. But this time, in an effort spearheaded by Wandiga, the African delegates voted to band togeth er as the African Association of Pure & Applied Chemistry (ΑΑΡAC). It is time, Wandiga exhorted his colleagues, for African chemists to speak out "about the ability of our discipline to transform society." The motivating force behind the for mation of AAPAC is to ensure both bet ter communication among African scien tists and more recognition for their disci pline from African leaders (C&EN, Aug. 7, page 8). All future ICCA meetings will fall under the aegis of AAPAC.
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To hold poverty at the 1985 level, Wanjui calculates that the gross domes tic products of Sub-Saharan countries need to grow by 5.5%. And this means that "industry must be radically re structured," technologies must be im proved, incentives for agriculture and health care must be enhanced, and at tention must be paid to nutrition and family planning, he insists. The capacity for sustainable human and economic development is present, Amoako-Nuama emphatically asserts. Africa has trained a large number of scientists and technologists, and she in sists that politicians now must tap the expertise of these trained professionals to convert the continent's rich natural resources into wealth for the well-being of Africans. "The task ahead is enormous but not insurmountable," she says. And the contributions of chemists, if properly utilized, will propel Africa's develop ment and liberate the continent eco nomically, she contends. Paralleling the theme of the confer ence, "Chemistry in Health, Industry & the Environment," Amoako-Nuama outlined how chemists can contribute. Chemistry applied to health issues needs to focus on the diagnosis and treatment of disease and on the search for new drugs—especially through the screening and use of medicinal plants. Several African nations, including Gha na, are actively scouring native plants, searching for agents effective against the human immunodeficiency virus es—fflV-l and HIV-2—that cause AIDS and the plasmodium responsible for malaria. It is in the health arena that chemists can make unique offerings. They can serve to validate scientifically the claims of traditional healers, or herbal ists, through rigorous experimentation. The end result could very well be stan dardization of dosage and acceptable quality control. Alternatively, chemists Amoako-Nuama: chemists must contnbute from industrialized nations can work
At this conference, Amoako-Nuama painted a vivid portrait of the African paradox. The continent, she pointed out, is endowed with a startling range of natural resources—from bauxite, di amonds, and gold to a diverse array of animal and plant life. Yet it is plagued by wretched poverty, very low stan dards of living, a narrow industrial base, low productivity, and a plethora of unsophisticated technologies. In his plenary address to the confer ence, chemist Joe B. Wanjui of Unilever International, Nairobi, put some hard numbers with Amoako-Nuama's dire picture. "Life expectancy [in Sub-Saharan Africa] stands at 50 years. Compare that with the 77-year average for highincome countries and you begin to feel a little dizzy," he said. "Poverty in [Africa] is escalating, not diminishing. It is now estimated that by the end of this century, 30% of the world's poor will live in Sub-Saharan Africa," Wanjui explains. In 1985, the comparable figure was 16%, he says.
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Ghana's environment minister champions women scientists She peered over the microphone, scanning the audience of 250 chemists, many from across the world, who had joined their African colleagues to participate in the 6th International Chemistry Conference in Africa, held at the University of Ghana, just outside Accra. "So few female faces," she sighed. "So little changes." Christina E. Amoako-Nuama, Ghana's minister for the environment, science, and technology, was delivering the opening address to the weeklong conference when she made this observation. Given the nature of the meeting, the Ph.D. microbiologist who has researched the biochemistry of fungal spores was an able substitute for Ghanaian President Jerry J. Rawlings, who was originally slated to welcome the chemists. Later, in an interview with C&EN, Amoako-Nuama expanded on her conference remarks. "As you have seen this morning, there were very few of us women, certainly very, very few African women, in the audience. Perhaps the biological sciences are a little better than the physical sciences, but not much," she says. "It's the same even in top governmental and business areas." She contends that the pressures preventing some African girls and wom-
with their African counterparts to comb grasslands and forests for pharmacologically active natural products. Indeed, Gerhard Bringmann, a chemist at the Institute of Organic Chemistry in Wiirzburg, Germany, was one of several scientists at the conference to describe fruitful collaborative efforts. Working with U.S. and Cameroonian scientists, Bringmann and his group helped elucidate the structure of a class of alkaloids called michellamines, symmetric naphthylisoquinoline dimers derived from plants indigenous to Cameroon. The dimer shows antiviral activity against HIV-1 and HIV-2, while the monomers are effective against malaria. Scientists are now considering the form that is effective against the AIDS viruses for clinical trials in the U.S., Bringmann says. Chemists can apply their know-how to the industrial sector by devising methods of converting primary products (minerals and agricultural produce) into 28
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en from becoming scientists are different from those affecting females in the U.S. "Here in Africa, it's even the mothers who make this happen," she explains. When students are home on holidays, the girls are expected to help with household chores, while the boys are expected to continue to study. "Even if there isn't overt pressure on them to stop doing the sciences, girls have so little time to study that they end up not doing very well, even if they have the natural ability." In coed institutions, particularly in lower grade levels, girls are heckled for studying the sciences, she says. And as they advance in their studies, young women bump into a universal roadblock—but with an African twist. "You are either ugly, not beautiful enough to attract men, and that's why you are doing the sciences. If you are beautiful, you are doing science because somebody is favoring you. And, if all that fails, then you are a witch or something like that. You have some evil spirits, and that's why you are able to do so well in the sciences." Evil spirits aside, Amoako-Nuama was encouraged to study sciences by her mother and grandmother. As an Ashanti, she comes from a matrilin-
products of economic value on world markets like textiles and construction materials, Amoako-Nuama says. Industrial chemists also can use their knowledge to improve the treatment and management of Africa's water resources, and thereby help to improve the health of Africa's vulnerable populations, Wanjui contends. "The priority health issue for chemistry is to find inexpensive ways of treating stagnant surface waters that form the breeding grounds for mosquitoes [the plasmodium-malaria vector], water snails [the Bilharzia-schistosomiasis vector], and tsetse flies [the sleeping sickness vector]," he adds. "It is only science and technology that can be used to solve the most serious environmental problems," says AmoakoNuama. And chemists can be especially useful to African nations in helping to prevent the harmful dumping of toxic wastes from industrialized nations. "The ability of our chemists . . . to monitor
eal culture where women are influential and very strong. Amoako-Nuama, in turn, is ensuring that her daughter can pursue a scientific course of study if she chooses. "I make sure that she has all the time she needs [to study]. In fact, I think my sons probably spend more time doing housework than she does—it's reverse discrimination." Amoako-Nuama's cultural background allowed her to persevere in the face of the discrimination she encountered in school. "I got tired of working twice as hard and getting half the recognition of my male counterparts, so I decided to forge ahead and just do what I wanted," she says. And the culmination of this determination: She was appointed environment, science, and technology minister three years ago. Prior to her political appointment, she was a deputy director in Ghana's environmental protection agency. And before that, she taught at the Universities of Ghana and Liberia. Asked if she was appointed minister because of her technical expertise, she quips: "Certainly. Also, I think because I'm a woman, a scientist, and also have an environmental background. So, I suppose you can say they were killing three birds with one stone."
imports from other countries will indicate our ability to safeguard the health and safety of our people," she insists. To ensure that it has a sufficient number of scientific and technical professionals to spur economic development, Ghana launched its Education Reform Program in 1987. That program, Amoako-Nuama explains, has a twofold objective: to encourage the study of science and technology in primary and secondary schools, and to increase the number of science students entering colleges and universities 75% by 2000. Of special interest to AmoakoNuama is the increased participation of female students in science education— the major thrust of the Ministry of Education's Science, Technology & Mathematics Education for Girls Program. In the private sector, she explains, an association of women scientists is actively working "to stimulate an interest in the study of sciences and related subjects in girls and women." •
