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Tanzania: Concerns over Bt cotton

Trials: Many clinical trials failing in Africa

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Science

ICIPE thinks victory over tse-tse fly is possible

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Africa Needs Drugs... but few want to volunteer and stay in clinical trials

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International Prices=USD2 Kenya: Ksh150 Uganda: Ush6000 Tanzania: Tsh3000 Rwanda, Burundi equivalent AFRICAN SCIENCE

CONTENTS FEATURES AFRICAN SCIENCE June 2010. Volume 020110 Number 4

Agriculture 10. Bad news for wheat growers

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FOUR NEW MUTATIONS OF UG99, A STRAIN of a deadly wheat pathogen known as stem rust, have overcome existing sources of genetic resistance developed to safeguard the world’s wheat crop

12. Girls out-smoke boys More Nigerian girls use Tobacco than boys--- and they are not alone

14. EU-ICIPE Sign tse-tse pact The EU and the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) have signed a financial agreement totalling Euros 1.5 million (Kshs.154 million) to support a new project that will enable livestock keepers in Africa, particularly pastoralists and agro-pastoralists, to access a ground breaking tsetse fly control innovation developed by the research Centre

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HIV 16. Crunch time for microbicides There is a recognised need to prioritise and accelerate efficacy testing in clinical trials,�

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Environment 18. Communities rights in REDD+?

In the lead up to the Oslo climate and forest conference which will seek to establish an interim partnership arrangement for REDD+, Civil Society representative to the UN-REDD Programme Policy Board, Pacifique Mukumba Isumbisho, calls on the Oslo process to stay squarely focused on the rights of forest communities.

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Medicine 26. TB drugs: Scarcity in the pipeline Since early 1980, a number of TB vaccines have been developed, but a few numbers of candidates in Africa proved to have an immune response which is thought may be protective.

Agri-business

26 ON THE COVER

32. Tanzania concerns for Bt cotton To increase cotton production and improve the national economy, Tanzania could revive cotton production in Southern Highlands. www.africasciencenews.org

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FROM THE EDITOR Science and technology is “vital for Africa” and could play a pivotal role in any development process.

Many analysts have urged time and again for Africa to develop indigenous science and technology (S&T) and build a critical mass of scientists and technicians to exploit its natural resources While other regions of the developing world have enjoyed significant advances in science and technology – notably Asia and South America –Africa seems to have lagged behind.

What can this region learn from the success of others? As in other parts of the developing world, the charge for S&T is being led by the region’s larger and relatively wealthier nations – notably South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria.

As in other parts of the developing world, it is being accompanied – or perhaps more accurately, preceded – by other reforms that include advances in democracy and economic liberalization.

And, as in other parts of the developing world, the scientific advances throughout the region have been uneven, to say the least, both between and within countries.

Indeed, in sub-Saharan Africa, the advances have been much more tentative and the prospects for long-term success much more problematic.

According to Mohamed H.A. Hassan, Executive director, TWAS, the academy of sciences for the developing world and President, African Academy of Sciences, the region faces three key problems that need to be addressed satisfactorily if meaningful progress is to continue in countries where it has taken root and spread to countries where it has not.

First, there is the issue of scientific capacity and leadership in both research and education.

Sub-Saharan Africa, a victim of decades of neglect and misguided policies (sometimes self-imposed), is woefully lacking in scientific capacity, even when compared to other parts of the developing world.

Universities must be improved, laboratories upgraded and teaching reinvigorated, all for the purposes of creating a critical mass of well-trained scientists within each country capable of conducting first-class research and training.

Second, there is the issue of weak institutions – both those that fund science and those that do science.

As a result, ministries of science and technology must be given both the authority and adequate budgets to develop effective S&T policies and implement programmes.

Similarly, universities and research centres must be granted the freedom and resources to develop vigorous curricula and nurture an open, innovative environment where world-class classroom study and laboratory experiments can take place and bear fruit.

Third, there is the issue of the disconnection between science practice and science policy. www.africasciencenews.org

For the past three decades, the science that did take place in sub-Saharan Africa was not only severely limited in scope but also often carried out in isolation from the region’s critical economic and social problems.

Such a separation between science and society must be overcome, not only for the sake of society but also for the sake of science. Only when the public benefits directly from science will sustained public support be forthcoming.

Given the difficult challenges that Africa faces, what strategies should be pursued to promote both science and science-based economic development? What, in short, would represent a reasonable roadmap for success?

Having a core of “relevant scientists” able to make the best choices of available technology, based on the needs of their countries and not on other criteria, is critical for the long-term economic development of the continent, said UNESCO Director-General Frederico Mayor once said.

Citing the example of his own country -- Spain -- which depended on “other peoples’ science” until it made a conscious decision to develop its own S&T, he said Africa can also do it if its decision makers decide to make the development of S&T a priority.

There already exist in Africa “excellent teams” in a variety of scientific fields, including biochemistry and chemistry, microbiology, oceanography and entomology.

All that is needed is for Africa to take advantage of S&T to add value to its commodities, which have declined in price on the world markets.

By helping Africa develop the necessary knowledge and expertise, he said “we can ensure that Africa itself will reap the benefits of its vast wealth.”

“No one but Africans themselves can create the enabling environment for investment and economic growth.

As the world increasingly adapts to the information age, it is clear S&T will become ever more important to every country’s growth and prosperity.”

The challenge in Africa is not lack of awareness of the need to work on grassroots innovations. But this need fuding. Africa’s leaders have committed to increasing their research and development expenditures to at least 1 percent of GDP. But, the recession has hurt the African economies to an even greater extent than it has the developed world.

Worldwide, policymakers are coming to the realization that continued investments in science and technology are crucial for future economic stability and success. “When we fail to invest in research, we fail to invest in the future,” declared President Obama last September. If only every nation’s science budget could reflect that sentiment.

There is also need to strengthen existing efforts and encourage more partnerships with funds generated given to support research projects that add value to or scale-up local knowledge after blending it with modern scientific technologies. Creating a global grassroots innovation foundation could also help blend formal and informal science to address persistent problems of survival in marginal environments. Billions are spent on solving the problems of the poor, but not the millions it would take to forge partnerships between informal and formal science around to develop people-oriented sustainable technologies­­­—Henry Neondo, Editor AFRICAN SCIENCE

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LETTERS Funding science It seems odd that while millions of dollars are pilfered by Africa’s big men to buy villas in Western cities, only a meager is spent in tools that could be used to sort out problems bedeviling the continent.

In January, Uganda President, Yoweri Museveni promised to raise salaries of Ugandan scientists to international standards. But come June when the budget was read, only USD8 million was set aside for research. Did he factor in his promises?

Tanzania’s allocation of US$20 million to the country’s Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH) is a thirty-fold increase from last year for the agency, which is emerging as the country’s main research coordinator and funder.

The allocation will not fulfill president Jakaya Kikwete’s pledge last year to increase the country’s science spend from 0.3 per cent of GDP to one per cent.

On the other hand, Kenya allocated a mere US$7 million to upgrade all 14 of its science and technology colleges. This is not coming anywhere near the amount of money that end up in people’s pocket through graft as reported in the daily newspapers almost daily.

Brad Keene London, UK Funding science The relatively small number of HIV/AIDS trials conducted in Africa is not commensurate with the burden of disease.

Over two million Africans died from AIDS in 2003, and women and children are disproportionately represented. People with HIV and AIDS, clinicians, policy makers, health activists, and many other key players require information on the most effective forms of prevention and treatment relevant to their setting.

Researchers and funders of research also require knowledge of current trials to better address gaps and disparities in research.

A database of African-based trials of prevention and treatment www.africasciencenews.org

interventions for HIV and AIDS show dismal scenario for a continent ravaged by HIV. Something needs to be done.

Sophie Khumalo, South Africa Mobile phones

African Science Publisher Pamela Munene Editor Henry Neondo Sub-Editor Naftali Mwaura Revise Editor Musa Radoli Contributors

If there is something that Africa ought to learn about the usefulness of technology is in the rapid utilization of mobile phones.

There has been a tremendous growth in mobile phone ownership and use globally.

Statistics from the International Telecommunication Union tend to suggest that mobile phone subscribers currently constitute 60 percent of the world population.

The report also suggests that there are now more mobile phone users in the developing world than in the developed world.

In countries like Ghana, it is estimated that, there are 50 mobile phone subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, and further, the ratio of mobile cellular subscriptions to fixed telephone lines is 80 to 1.

The rapid diffusion of this relatively low-cost technology has spurred a development agenda questioning how mobile phones can be harnessed more effectively for socio-economic development in developing economies and other resource-poor contexts.

The lesson for Africa is that they should not stop at anything to ensure that a technology develops.

The impact on people’s lives could be unimaginable.

Edmond Koffi Ghana

Oluyinka Alawode, Adeleke Adeyemi, Adu Domfeh, Ruth Akinyi, Benedict Tembo, Sanday Kabange, Alex Ndirangu, Micheal Omondi, Shadrack Kavilu, Gitonga Njeru, David Njagi, Geoffrey Kamadi, Kevin Wafula, Tsegaye Tito, Aimable Twahirwa, Pius Sawa, Bobby Ramakant, Hilde Gudvangen, Marketing Manager Humphrey Muhongo Administrator Brian Opondo Published by: Services in Scientific Work in Africa, P.O. Box 2141, 00100, Nairobi, Kenya TEL: +254-020-2051330 Fax: +254-020-240104 Email: info@africasciencenews.org or ans_editor@yahoo.com Contact us for subscriptions, submissions, Reprints, Advertising AFRICAN SCIENCE

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NEWS SCAN Insights and Analyses about Science and Technology

Research & Discovery

Bad news for wheat growers Its trajectory and evolution are of particular concern to Four new mutations of Ug99, a strain of a deadly wheat pathogen known as stem rust, the major wheat-growing areas of Southern and Eastern have overcome existing sources of genetic resistance Africa, the Central Asian Republics, the Caucasus, the developed to safeguard the world’s wheat crop. Leading Indian subcontinent, South America, Australia and North wheat experts from Africa, Australia, Asia, Europe and America.

“We do not have as much information as we would like the Americas, who are in St. Petersburg, Russia for a global wheat event organized by the Borlaug Global on the aggressiveness of the pathogen,” said David Hodson, Rust Initiative, said the evolving pathogen may pose an Head of the GIS Unit at FAO. “The original race, Ug99, does even greater threat to global wheat production than the not seem to have increased as much as originally feared, given its highly virulent nature. But the new variants pose original Ug99.

The new “races” have acquired the ability to defeat two a grave challenge that we are addressing in collaborations of the most important stem rust-resistant genes, which around the world.”

The wheat rust pathogen enters the stems of a wheat are widely used in most of the world’s wheat breeding plant and destroys the vascular tissue. There are three rusts programs.

“With the new mutations we are seeing, countries that pose threats to wheat, but stem rust, of which Ug99 is cannot afford to wait until rust ‘bites’ them,” said Dr. Ravi a variant, is the most feared. It causes plants to fall over and Singh, distinguished senior scientist in plant genetics can lead to the loss of an entire harvest.

The introduction of one variant in just one part of and pathology with the Mexico-based International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). the world can cause enormous losses, according to the “The variant of Ug99, for example, went from first scientists.

Hodson noted that wheat scientists and farmers alike detection in trace amounts in one year to epidemic are now mobilizing to identify and fight the virulent new proportions the next year.”

“Already, most of the varieties planted in the wheat forms of Ug99.

Scientists at the meeting in St. Petersburg, hosted by the fields of the world are vulnerable to the original form of Ug99. We will now have to make sure that every new N.I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry, said they are staying wheat variety we release has iron-clad resistance to both a few steps ahead of the rapidly evolving pathogen.

They note that collaborative research and breeding Ug99 and the new races,” said Singh.

The reddish-brown, wind-borne fungus known as programs are producing promising new lines that exhibit Ug99 has decimated up to 80 percent of Kenyan farmers’ excellent defenses against Ug99 and its “daughter” stem wheat during several cropping seasons, and scientists rust strains.

“We are ready,” said Dr. Mahmoud Solh, Director estimate that 90 percent of the wheat varieties around the world lack sufficient resistance to the original Ug99.

Starting five years ago, in response to evidence of Ug99’s virulence, researchers expanded breeding programs and collaborated with each other in a kind of “shuttle breeding diplomacy” to identify wheat varieties that could resist the new strain.

But the new mutations—identified last year in South Africa—will make wheat crops more vulnerable as pathogens now will find new wind trajectories for migration.

First discovered in Uganda in 1999, the original Ug99 has also been found in Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, Yemen and Iran; a Global Cereal Rust Monitoring System, housed at A scientist assesses the extent of stem rust, a major thret to the Food and Agriculture Organization of wheatproduction in this farm in East Africa. New strains of the the United Nations (FAO), suggests it is on rust have emerged. the march toward South Asia and beyond. www.africasciencenews.org

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General of the Syria-based International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA).

“Wheat rust researchers around the world have united in an unprecedented collaboration to monitor the spread of wheat rust, find new sources of rust resistance from wild relatives of wheat, and deploy varieties with durable resistance.”

But the burning question, according to Dr. Solh and his colleagues, is whether policymakers will provide the sustained support needed to remain prepared for future challenges.

“Wheat is the primary source of calories for millions of people worldwide, and accounts for around 30 percent of global grain production and 44 percent of cereals used as food,” said Dr. Solh. “Globally, wheat provides nearly 55 percent of the carbohydrates and 20 percent of the food calories we consume every day.”

The last major stem rust epidemic swept across North America’s wheat fields in the early 1950s, when the disease destroyed as much as 40 percent of the continent’s spring wheat crop. The crisis gave birth to a new form of international cooperation among wheat scientists worldwide.

Spearheaded by Nobel Laureate wheat scientist Norman Borlaug, the initiative developed wheat varieties that resisted stem rust for more than four decades.

“The problem is that once they get to an epidemic level, they are very hard to stop,” Singh said. “In a raging epidemic, even chemicals are of limited use.”

Ironically, the very success of their work eventually led to complacency; in the 1990s, for instance, just before the discovery of Ug99, the United States had only one scientist with expertise in stem rust. Before his death last year, Borlaug drew the world’s attention to the threat the emerging pathogen poses to world food security, and warned of its newfound ability to overcome the resistance that had kept stem rust at bay for more than 40 years.

And now virulent mutations of Ug99 have appeared in South Africa, according to new research presented in St. Petersburg.

“My greenhouse work showed that from a collection of 129 South African commercial cultivars and advanced breeding lines tested, 47 percent are susceptible in the seedling stage to one or both of the new stem rust races,” said study author Zak Pretorius, Professor of Plant Pathology at the University of the Free State, South Africa.

Pretorius said that while most of the plants will have adult immunity, as they have additional genes to protect them, “it does point to the vulnerability of our best materials to the Ug99 race group in terms of commonly used resistance genes.” “Ug99 has exposed how vulnerable the global wheat crop is,” said Robert Park, wheat pathologist at the Plant Breeding Institute of the University of Sydney. “We found that there’s very little in terms of good resistance in farmers’ fields. But we cannot expect the problem to be solved in five years. Ug99 research, monitoring and breeding is an ongoing effort—an arms race that must be supported by sustained funding.”

Stem rust race Ug99 and its derivatives are serious threats to global wheat production in Asia and Africa. If not checked through effective research, seed production, www.africasciencenews.org 11

and distribution of resistant varieties, Ug99 may become another cause of food shortages in many countries. The best strategy to protect wheat from the menace of race Ug99 is replacement of susceptible varieties with new high-yielding, resistant varieties. Two CGIAR centers (CIMMYT and ICARDA), in collaboration with national research centers of countries under threat, have developed high-yielding Ug99-resistant varieties that are now being multiplied and distributed with the financial assistance of USAID in the most threatened areas.

Iran is the furthest along in producing seed, and Egypt in introducing it, but most of the countries considered at risk “will be producing at least 5 percent quality seed of their national potential seed market for wheat in the crop cycle 2010-11,” according to CIMMYT scientist Arun Kumar Joshi, who presented his findings on the outcomes of first efforts to introduce new varieties throughout North Africa, the Middle East and Afghanistan. The objective is to have sufficient seed of resistant lines to plant at least 5 percent of the entire wheat area by 2012.

“If achieved, this will be a major step towards food security,” said Joshi. He and his colleagues note in their paper the urgency of the project to replace wheat throughout the vulnerable region. “Given favorable conditions [Ug99] threatens to spread into other wheat-producing regions of Africa and Asia, and potentially, the entire world. The threat is particularly acute in South Asia, which produces 20 percent of world wheat for a population of 1.4 billion people.”

Wealthy farmers have chemical tools for dealing with wheat rust, but according to Joshi, chemical control is costly and unaffordable for most resource-poor farmers, whereas the direct costs of growing resistant varieties in the developing world are close to zero. “Cultivation of resistant wheat varieties has reduced chemical use across about two-thirds of the 215 million hectares sown with wheat worldwide,” said Joshi. “In contrast, the cost of fungicide use for controlling rust diseases in Australia in 2008 is estimated at USD8/ha, plus the cost of applying the chemicals.”

The scientists gathering in St. Petersb ur g note that the unprecedented effort to combat Ug99 has important benefits for global wheat production overall.

The researchers reported widespread outbreaks of a new strain of stri pe , or yellow rust, in Central, West Asia, North Africa (CWANA) and the Caucasus (CAC) region, “which is expected to cause billions of dollars in crop losses, and disrupt regional government’s food security plans through loss of yield,” said Solh. He said that ICARDA scientists were working with regional partners to deploy new resistance genes for stripe rust.

He also noted that there are existing resistant varieties which could be more widely adopted. “The focus of the global Ug99 research team is far broader than Ug99 alone,” said Ronnie Coffman, Director of the Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat Project at Cornell University. “The primary goal is to secure the world’s wheat crop and make poor wheat farmers less vulnerable to crop diseases and other emerging constraints, such as drought and the other effects of climate change.”

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Girls out-smoke boys

More Nigerian girls used tobacco than boys--- and they are not alone. According to the WHO, in half of the 151 countries recently surveyed for trends in tobacco use among young people, approximately as many girls used tobacco as boys.

The same trends as in Nigeria is observed in Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Cook Islands, Croatia, Czech Republic, Mexico, New Zealand, and Uruguay.

Women are a major target for the tobacco industry in its effort to recruit new users to replace those who will quit or die prematurely from tobacco-related diseases. The leading preventable cause of death, tobacco use kills more than five million people every year, about 1.5 million of whom are women.

“We know that tobacco advertising increasingly targets girls,” said WHO Assistant Director-General for Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health Dr Ala Alwan. “This campaign calls attention to the tobacco industry’s attempts to market its deadly products by associating tobacco use with beauty and liberation.”

Often the threat to women is less from their being enticed to smoke or chew tobacco than from their being exposed to the smoke of others, particularly men. Worldwide, of the approximately 430,000 adult deaths caused per year by second-hand smoke, about 64% are among women.

Pregnant women, as well as their babies, are also vulnerable to the harms of second-hand smoke.

“By enforcing the WHO Framework Convention, governments can reduce the toll of fatal and crippling heart attacks, strokes, cancers and respiratory diseases that have become increasingly prevalent among women,” says Dr Douglas Bettcher, Director of WHO’s Tobacco Free Initiative.

In observance of World No Tobacco Day 2010, the World Health Organization (WHO) is urging global action to protect women and girls against the sickness and suffering caused by tobacco use. “The trends in some countries are extremely worrisome,” said WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan. “Tobacco use is neither liberating nor glamorous. It is addictive and deadly.”

This year’s campaign theme, Gender and tobacco with an emphasis on marketing to women, focuses on the harmful effects of tobacco marketing towards women and girls. It also highlights the need for governments to ban all tobacco

Anita (not real name) deeply puffs with a cigar on her hands

advertising, promotion and sponsorship and to eliminate tobacco smoke in all public and work places as provided in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Although many more men use tobacco than women (women make up only about 20% of the world’s smokers), there is evidence that the epidemic of tobacco use among girls is increasing in some countries and regions.

WHO calls on governments and the public to demand a ban on all forms of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship; to support implementation and strong enforcement of legislation to provide 100% protection from tobacco smoke in all public and work places; and to take global action to advocate for women’s freedom from tobacco. The international launch of World No Tobacco Day 2010 will take place on 31 May in Tokyo, Japan.

New gecko species discovered Scientists discover new gecko species in West African rain forests. Secretive Hemidactylus fasciatus is actually 4 species distributed in forest patches across W. Africa. Former University of California, Berkeley, students Adam D. Leaché and Matthew K. Fujit have discovered a new gecko species, The West African forest gecko, a secretive but widely distributed species in forest patches from Ghana to Congo. They report in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B the gecko is actually four distinct species that appear to have evolved over the past 100,000 years due to the fragmentation of a belt of tropical rain forest , according to a report in this

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week’s issue of the.

The discovery demonstrates the wealth of biodiversity still surviving in the islands of tropical rain forest in West Africa, and the ability of new DNA analysis techniques to distinguish different species, even when they look alike.

“We tended to find this gecko, Hemidactylus fasciatus, throughout our travels in West Africa,” said Leaché, a herpetologist with UC Berkeley’s Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. “Despite the fact that it is recognized as one species, using new methods we have established a high probability that it is composed of at least four species.”

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EU-ICIPE Sign tsetse pact

Politics ruin trees

A farmer sprays his cattle against tse-tse fly. Tse-tse is a real menace in parts of East, central and southern Africa greatly limiting livestock farming. (inset: ICIPE administration block).

The European Union (EU) and the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) have signed a financial agreement totalling Euros 1.5 million (Kshs.154 million) to support a new project that will enable livestock keepers in Africa, particularly pastoralists and agro-pastoralists, to access a ground breaking tsetse fly control innovation developed by the research Centre.

The technology involves the use of repellent collars, which contain either synthetic equivalents of the odours of animals that tsetse flies tend to avoid, for instance Waterbucks, or chemicals developed through molecular optimisation of natural repellents found in the urine of cows. Worn around the neck of cattle, these repellent collars slowly dispense the chemicals in them, thereby protecting the animals from the flies.

The three-year project, which will be coordinated by Dr. Rajinder K. Saini, a Principal Scientist at ICIPE, is funded under the EU Food Security Thematic Programme (FSTP) Strategic Priority 1: Supporting the delivery of international public goods contributing to food security through research and technology.

The project will support the development of affordable and more robust dispensers, and the large-scale production of the repellents.

It will also assess the socio-economic impact of the technology, as well as its integration and validation with other existing tsetse control strategies where applicable.

Further, the initiative will promote the repellent collars among National Agricultural Research organisations (NARS), and help to enhance their capacity to assist livestock keepers to take-up the technology.

Speaking during the official launch of the project, at ICIPE’s www.africasciencenews.org

Nguruman field station on 12th May, the Centre’s Director General, Prof. Christian Borgemeister, acknowledged the EU’s critical role towards realising the Centre’s goal of making such integrated and environmentally-friendly tools and technologies accessible and affordable to the communities most in need of them.

He paid special tribute to the Maasai pastoralists in Nguruman, who have agreed to take part in the trials to ensure that the technology is fully adapted for pastoralist and agro-pastoralist production systems and is ready for delivery to other livestock keepers across Kenya and the East African region by the end of the project.

Dr. Peter Sturesson, Counsellor for Rural Development at the EU Delegation to Kenya, noted that by funding the project the Mission recognises the importance of the livestock sector for the improved well-being of communities across Africa, especially that of the pastoralists who will most benefit from the ICIPE technology. In addition, Dr. Sturesson said that the partnership underscores the strengthened relationship between the EU and ICIPE. ICIPE will partner in the project with various stakeholders, including the African Union-Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR), Association for Strengthening Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA), Forum for Agriculture Research in Africa (FARA), the African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS), Eastern Africa Farmers Federation (EAFF), the Pan African Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Eradication Campaign (PATTEC), the Kenya Industrial Research Institute (KIRDI) and the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute-Trypanosomiasis Research Centre (KARI-TRC).

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Madagascar’s military-backed change in leadership last year and a lucrative rosewood market based largely in China have created a dangerous situation for the endangered trees and the habitat that surrounds them, Duke University researchers say Duke researchers performed a sophisticated mapping and modeling study with the help of a French botanist to estimate historical and current distributions of the reddish hardwood, and to support their call for greater protections and enforcement. “Forty-seven of Madagascar’s 48 species of rosewood (Dalbergia) are found nowhere else in the world,” said Duke University graduate student Meredith Barrett, the lead author on the May 27 article.

Barrett, whose dissertation research concerns the effects of human development on lemur health, has seen the illegal logging first-hand. “When we went there in October, it had become obvious that Madagascar’s tourism had collapsed and that unrestricted logging was accelerating,” she said.

The market for lemur “bush meat” also has increased dramatically, particularly in the country’s northeastern rainforests.

Barrett and Duke Lemur Center director Anne Yoder, who is the senior author on the policy paper, hope they can call the international attention of scientists and conservation groups to protect the rosewood trees. Ideally, this would take the form of increased public pressure on the Malagasy government to step up enforcement and a formal listing under the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), Barrett said. Brazilian rosewood gained CITES protection in 1992, which is believed to have put more pressure on the forests in Madagascar. The slow-growing rosewood trees are found in relative isolation from each other. They are too dense to float very well, so loggers will fell several trees along river banks to make skids and rafts for bringing

Biotec law in vernacular Burkina Faso has translated the National Biosafety Law into three most commonly spoken languages (Mooré, Jula and Gulmacema) in the cotton growing areas in a bid to enhance awareness.

The first phase of translation has been achieved and the National Biosafety Authority is planning to reach out to farmers with the documents and to train them on the existing provisions regarding the use and management of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the country.

Since 2008, Burkina Faso has positioned itself as a producer of transgenic crops with 2 to 4 millions of farmers involved in the production of Bt cotton.

Most of these producers have low literacy levels, especially when it comes to reading French, the actual language in which the biosafety law is written. www.africasciencenews.org 15

Forty-seven of Madagascar’s 48 species of rosewood (Dalbergia) are found nowhere else in the world, but they are heavy threat from gullible politicians who are trading the trees to Chinese.

the logs to market. Once the logs are floated and trucked to Malagasy ports, they are loaded onto container ships and hauled to China to make highly prized furniture and musical instruments. There are an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 metric tons of felled rosewood trees awaiting shipment from Madagascar’s ports. The Malagasy logger who fells the tree is paid about 50 cents for “backbreaking work,” Barrett said. A Chinese rosewood armoire retails for about $20,000.

Enforcement of the Malagasy government’s on-again, off-again policy against rosewood logging is pretty much nonexistent, Barrett said. Logging interests have threatened the safety of villages and at least one park office has been burned down. “If you protect the trees, you’re also protecting habitat,” Barrett said. “Seventy percent of Madagascar’s species live in these forests.”

Biotec board launched Kenya has launched the National Biosafety Authority (NBA) Board which was created after the country enacted a crucial legislation on biosafety February last year.

Launching the board, Minister for Higher Education, Science and Technology William Ruto said the government was committed to conduct business in the area of biotechnology in a transparent manner under a biosafety system that will be enforceable by the Biosafety Law. Public participation will be a priority.

He stressed that Kenyans are eagerly waiting to see how the Board will make the country move forward to enhance modern biotechnology and in particular regulate GMOs and their derived products. Establishment of the NBA board is a key provision in the Biosafety Act. The Board is a broad based multi-stakeholder entity .

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Crunch time for microbicides

Tanzanian wins Omulolu award

A microbicide ring. There are many trials that look into how best to deliver on the microbicides that would prevent HIV infection in women.

A Tanzanian, Charles Shagi, a Program Officer for the African Medical and Research Foundation based in Mwanza, Tanzania, was honored Tuesday received the second Omololu Falobi Award for Excellence in HIV Prevention Research Community Advocacy. He won the award for his significant contributions to developing and sustaining community engagement and education programs that empower women and their communities to advocate from themselves and to become vital partners in HIV prevention research trials.

A community educator who developed innovative ways to link women in Tanzanian villages with life-saving HIV prevention information and with HIV prevention research trials, Shagi was presented the award during the closing ceremony of the Microbicides 2010 Conference in Pittsburgh, USA. “Bringing HIV prevention research to communities is an essential part of our work to develop new HIV prevention options for men and women,” said Sharon Hillier, Microbicides 2010 Co-chair and a member of the award selection committee. “Charles embodies what this award was created to recognize: leadership, commitment and passion in community advocacy. He works tirelessly not only to help women advocate on their own behalf and to become involved in research, but also to educate and empower researchers to understand the needs of women, their families and communities.”

Charles works tirelessly not only to help women, their families and their communities advocate on their own behalf and to become involved in research “I am very humbled to accept this award, and for me, it really underscores the value this field put on the importance of reaching out to the women. – in the villages of Tanzania and around the world – who participate in these trials.” said Shagi. “This award is important because it proves that people do care about them. It is the courage of those women that is being honored today. I look forward to continuing to share the voices and experiences of vulnerable women with the research and advocacy communities.” “I urge all HIV prevention researchers to listen to the community.

There is need for all of us to change attitude, but especially the researchers and our leaders since we have a long walk left. Communities should be at the center of research, not at the periphery,” Shagi added.

The Omololu Falobi Award highlights the essential role of community advocacy and leadership in HIV prevention research. It celebrates the life and values of the late Omololu Falobi, a long-time HIV advocate and journalist who founded Journalists Against AIDS in Nigeria, was an instrumental pioneer member of the Nigerian Treatment Access Movement, and co-founded the New HIV Vaccine & Microbicide Advocacy Society.

Omololu was killed in Lagos, Nigeria in October 2006.

The award was conceived as an ongoing legacy that recognizes his commitment and lasting contributions to HIV prevention research advocacy. “Omololu was a visionary leader and activist, who accomplished much in his too short a life. He dedicated himself to powerful

There is a recognised need to prioritise and accelerate efficacy testing in clinical trials,” said Prof Robin Shattock,, the director of the microbicide research programme at St George’s University of London. He warns that “we stand at a critical timepoint in microbicide development”.

The failure of the first-generation of non-ARV-based candidates had left only three efficacy microbicide studies in humans ongoing or planned, he pointed out.

The first is CAPRISA in South Africa, a phase 2b trial of tenofovir gel which will present its findings at the Vienna International AIDS Conference in July 2010.

VOICE, a phase 3 trial testing tenofovir gel and tenofovir and tenofovir/FTC PrEP, is recruiting now and will report in 2011. The long-awaited IPM009 trial of dapivirine in a vaginal ring and/or gel is not due to start till 2012.

From having been a favoured option as new prevention technologies, microbicides were now second to preexposure prophylaxis in terms of the number of efficacy trials ongoing or planned, though some trials such as VOICE are studying both concepts.

Shattock said that the concept of a microbicide was amply biologically plausible, unlike any current vaccine.

More than this, no fewer than 13 different compounds in more than 20 studies, ranging from drugs as familiar as www.africasciencenews.org

tenofovir to ones as exotic as nucleocaspid protein inhibitors and broadly neutralising antibodies, had demonstrated efficacy in blocking HIV infection in monkeys.

“Biological plausibility for microbicides has never been stronger,” he said. “But how can this knowledge bridge to better human trials?”

One problem was to do with ensuring a drug got to the place it needed to, in a state which was effective, and in the concentration needed. Better assays were being developed to better assess activity in human tissue.

An even bigger problem, perhaps, was to do with the difficulty of ensuring adherence. An analysis of adherence in the Carraguard trial which failed two years ago showed that subjects simply found it impossible to reapply the microbicide if they had sex more than once a night.

Developing new formulations which maximised adherence and new ways of monitoring adherence would be crucial to the success of future studies, he said.

Developing combination products containing two or three drugs was also increasing in importance. Dosage formulations such as vaginal rings that supplied a constant level of drugs would overcome this problem.

The challenge now, Shattock later told a press conference, was not to develop more candidates – there were plenty of those – but to raise the amount of money needed to take the best candidates into efficacy trials.

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Omololu Falobi advocacy for HIV and HIV prevention research in Nigeria, Africa and worldwide,” said Funmi Doherty of NHVMAS in Nigeria. “It is gratifying to see his ideals and vision live on through this award. I know he would be immensely proud of the work that Charles and the past recipients are doing to simultaneously advance human rights and HIV prevention research.”

Shagi was chosen from among an impressive group of almost 20 nominees by an independent international panel of HIV prevention research advocates, policy makers, and scientists. The selection committee noted his instrumental role in pioneering new ways to bring the voices of community members and participants into the research process.

“Charles’ enthusiasm is infectious and he has been committed to helping recruit and mentor new people to the movement to expand the range of HIV prevention options,” said Lori Heise, former Executive Director of the Global Campaign for Microbicides and one of the inaugural recipients of the award and member of the 2010 selection committee. “We need more people like Charles who can ably bridge the gap between researchers and community members.” Omololu made enormous impact in Nigeria and beyond – he nurtured and/or led campaigns related to prevention, treatment and research.

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Communities rights in REDD+?

Pacifique Mukumba Isumbisho

In the lead up to the Oslo Climate and Forest Conference which will seek to establish an interim partnership arrangement for REDD+, Civil Society representative to the UN-REDD Programme Policy Board, Pacifique Mukumba Isumbisho, calls on the Oslo process to stay squarely focused on the rights of forest communities.

One of the obstacles in the REDD+ process is when governments fail to recognize the land rights of forest communities.

Yet the traditional knowledge and practices of these communities, including Indigenous Peoples, have contributed to the sustainable management and conservation of natural forest areas for thousands of years.

These communities have the right to occupy their ancestral lands and freely access the resources there.

For example, by claiming that the land and subsoil belongs to the state (Bakajika Act), the Congolese government prevented communities from doing so and left only certain sections of land to be managed by Indigenous communities.

The interim REDD+ partnership to be designed in Oslo should be based, among others things, on the right to the land of forestry communities including Indigenous Peoples.

The access of these communities to the land and/or the forests should not be a privilege but a right, considering the roles they have played and continue to play in the sustainable conservation of forests.

The REDD+ partnership must also give communities

access to payments for environmental services and derived from both a sustainable forest management over many years, and the decentralized management of community forests granted by governments.

Such access would solve the problem of poverty, which forest management policies have failed to mitigate or prevent for many years.

The Democratic Republic of Congo provides a striking example. There, profit sharing payments for environmental services must be followed by capacity building of communities involved in the sustainable and decentralized management of forests.

Humans are at the center of socio-economic, cultural and environmental development. The REDD+ process should base its partnership on the protection of biodiversity, including by adopting measures on the transformation of natural forests and improved social and environmental benefits, including ecosystems and environmental services.

Development of monoculture plantations such as oil palm, should not affect the natural forests. The rehabilitation of abandoned plantations should be taken into account as an alternative to logging in natural forests, and the conversion of forests into tree plantations should not be encouraged in this REDD+ partnership.

The countries that adhere, or must adhere, to the REDD+ partnership have signed international conventions, including the Convention on Biological Diversity and the

Measuring carbon absorption abilities of a tree. Researchers are using various gadgets to estimate the amount of carbon in a given area.

Framework Convention on Climate Change.

They have also signed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The REDD+ partnership should develop and implement sound environmental and social safeguards that meet international standards and respect the agreements signed.

Transparent mechanisms and adequate resources should be put in place to ensure the effective implementation of these safeguards in the context of REDD+. A system of measuring, reporting and verification (MRV) involving stakeholders including Indigenous Peoples, should also be approved.

The REDD+ partnership should also consider creating an appeal mechanism for stakeholders in the process agreed to in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its implementation with the support of guarantees.

Communities, as stakeholders in the process, should have the same right to appeal as any other party.

The REDD+ partnership should develop a clear timetable for adopting a set of relevant procedures and standards through a participatory process.

While aware of the issues of transparency, good governance, consultation, the principle of free, prior and informed consent regarding all issues at stake, the sheer size and diversity of countries, the REDD+ partnership should focus on implementing a strategy for national REDD+ efforts, where all stakeholders are involved and participate in the preparation of national REDD+ programme documents (R-PPs). The REDD+ mechanism is one possible solution to the observed climate disruption and to poverty reduction in communities involved as stakeholders in the process.

Nevertheless, the mechanism will be more effective if these communities have access to the land (forests) granted to them by governments, and if the latter comply with the international conventions they ratified and with other international declarations to which they adhered.

The writer is the Executive Director, Support Center for Vulnerable Indigenous Pygmy and Minority Indigenous Peoples (CAMV) in DR Congo and is also the Civil Society Representative from Africa on the UN-REDD Programme Policy Board.

www.africasciencenews.org

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Risks of assisted child birth Couples considering undergoing assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment should be informed about the increased risk of congenital malformation posed by the use of ART, the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics was told.

Dr. Géraldine Viot, a clinical geneticist at the Maternité Port Royal hospital, Paris, France, will say that she believed that most doctors working in ART clinics in France only told couples about such risks if they were asked specific questions.

Dr. Viot and colleagues conducted a survey in 33 French centres registered for ART, around one third of the total number of clinics registered to perform ART procedures in France. All ART births from these clinics from 2003 to 2007 were included; 15 162 children in total. The study was the largest to date on this subject.

Questionnaires were completed both by the parents and the paediatrician and the prevalence of malformations found compared with the data obtained from national registers and in published papers.

“We found a major congenital malformation in 4.24% of the children”, said Dr. Viot, “compared with the 2-3% that we had expected from previous published studies.

This higher rate was due in part to an excess of heart diseases and malformations of the uro-genital system.

This was much more common in boys. Among the minor malformations, we found a five times higher rate of angioma, benign tumours made up of small blood vessels on or near the surface of the skin. These occurred more than twice as frequently in girls than boys.”

However, the scientists say, their results are a long way from the 11% of major malformations that have been reported by some studies. “Given that our study is the largest to date, we think that our data are more likely to be statistically representative of the true picture”, said Dr. Viot. The average age of the parents of children born with malformations was not statistically different from the other parents in the ART group.

The origins of the malformations are probably multiple, says Dr. Viot. “We need more research in order to understand the relationship between embryo culture media, timing of embryo transfer, the effects of ovarian stimulation, the use of ICSI, where sperm is injected directly into the egg, freezing of gametes and embryos and these disorders.

“We estimate that in France some 200 000 children have been born after ART and therefore a malformation rate of this magnitude is a public health issue. It is important that all doctors and also politicians are informed about this. We also need to follow up all children born after ART and to put much more effort into trying to understand which of the procedures involved is implicated in this problem.”

Dr. Viot and colleagues intend to follow up their work analysing a further 4000 questionnaires, from children born in 2008, and to look at the motor development of children born in 2003, who are now aged 7.

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JOBS & Events The 6th Science Centre World Congress Location: Cape Town, South Africa Date: 4 - 8 September 2011 Organisation: The 6th Science Centre World Congress SCIENCE CENTRE GATHERING IN CAPE TOWN, SEPTEMBER 2011 The 6th Science Centre World Congress will be held in Cape Town, South Africa, 4-8 September 2011. With the theme “Science Across Cultures With the theme “Science Across Cultures”, the 6th Science Centre World Congress will encourage reconciliation between different cultures and a greater appreciation of each culture’s unique contributions to science, technology and science education.

Key objectives The conference will also explore unique developing world angles, including: * How should science centres reflect the contributions made by scholars and researchers in the developing world? * How should science centres showcase indigenous knowledge systems? * How can science centres incorporate cultural differences and similarities when designing and implementing science education programmes?

Registration details Find out more at: www.6scwc.org 2. Final call for manuscripts for UNECA-ICSU ROA

climate change science book project

Organisation: United Nations Commission for Africa and ICSU Regional Office for Africa Closing Date: 30 July 2010

Volunteer pharmacist: hospital pharmacist assistant manager Location: UGANDA, St. Mary’s Hospital Lacor Organisation: Lacor Hospital Closing Date: 1 December 2010 The “Lacor Hospital” is a non-profit charitable institution belonging to the Gulu Catholic Diocese and is located 6 km west from Gulu town.

The languages spoken are: English, Acholi, Lwo, Luganda and Swahili.

The Pharmacy department at the Lacor Hospital is formed of one Head Pharmacist and 30 staff employees. The department relies heavily on: * Good management practices * Well-trained personnel * Good procedures and protocols Duration of term: 12 months, position available immediately Wages: CAN$4,500/month (depending on humanitarian experience) + living expenses (meals and housing) paid by the Lacor Hospital.

Responsibilities To assist the local current Pharmacist Head of the Pharmacy department in the management of: * Provisioning and inventory management * General processes of drug distribution in the hospital * Sterile preparation of medications and intravenous solutions * To assist the hospital head pharmacist to: * Select and train a pharmacy buyer within the pharmacy staff and establish the minimum and maximum drug and medical supplies on the wards and in the pharmacy. * Prepare spending reports for the hospital administration. www.africasciencenews.org

When Medicines Fail

PROVISIONAL TITLE OF THE BOOK: * Climate Change Science and Sustainable Development: The African * Experience, * Climate Change Science, Technology and Innovations for Africa’s * Sustainable Development, or * The Science of Climate Change and * Socio-Economic Prosperity in Africa. * The title of the book will depend on its content PROVISIONAL CONTENTS OF THE BOOK: INTRODUCTION (including history, science of climate and impacts on human society, well-being and development in Africa; position of Africa in the global climate change context, vulnerability of Africa, need for African issues to be addressed, etc).

SCIENTIFIC BASIS (including scientific based evidence of climate change in Africa and other robust findings, baseline studies, scenarios, etc; network of climate change scientists in Africa, data/databases, paleoclimate).

SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS (including case studies of the current status in Africa with regards to technology, infrastructure, skilled personnel, etc; the role of the economy, policies, political conflicts, demography; agricultural products/territorial products (value added products); and regional initiatives and country experiences).

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPTS: The deadline for submission is on Friday, 30 July 2010 SUBMISSIONS OF MANUSCRIPTS: Manuscripts should be submitted electronically to the following three contact persons: United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Thierry H. Amoussougbo: tamoussougbo@uneca.org ICSU Regional Office for Africa Dr Daniel Nyanganyura: d.nyanganyura@icsu-africa.org Dr Achuo A Enow: a.enow@icsu-africa.org PROJECT CO-ORDINATORS: Ms Aida Opoku-Mensah: aida.uneca@un.org Prof SM Muhongo: s.muhongo@icsu-africa.org * Select and train the pharmacy staff for additional responsibilities that will free the head pharmacist from administrative tasks to focus on clinical activities. * Set-up of a process to limit access to the numerous pharmacy stores. * Update the process of ward stock control system. * Set-up a process of prescription refills in the outpatients clinic. * Implement training programs in infection control and in sterile intravenous preparation. * Perform a cost-analysis evaluation of the upgrade the sterile room vs. alternative solutions. * To replace the hospital pharmacist during one month to permit her participation to the Pharmabridge Project and come to Canada to enhance her hospital management and pharmaceutical care skills.

Experience Required Education: Pharmacy Degree mandatory and Hospital Pharmacy degree or experience.

Experience in medication management a must, humanitarian experience an asset, experience in human resources and project management an asset.

Additional skills: good knowledge of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Essential Medicine List and of Good Pharmaceutical Practices; solid knowledge of software (Word and Excel).

Language skills: Spoken and written English a must, English-French bilingualism an asset.

Skills and qualifications: Attention to detail and organisational skills, open-mindedness and flexibility, management skills.

Application Procedure Please send your resume and motivation letter to admin@psfcanada. org.

Only selected candidates will be contacted Contact Details Email: admin@psfcanada.org AFRICAN SCIENCE

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Global communities have been asked to consider establishing a network of multi-disease surveillance laboratories to track the emergence and spread of resistant strains. The request comes against a background of a new report from the Center for Global Development (CGD) which warns that the world is rapidly losing its ability to treat diseases.

At the same time, the report calls on the pharmaceutical industry to set up voluntary standards to maintain the quality of its products from manufacturing through final delivery to the patient. Drug resistance is a natural occurrence, but careless practices in drug supply and use are hastening it unnecessarily,” said Rachel Nugent, chair of the expert Working Group that prepared the report, “The Race Against Drug Resistance.”

Rich countries suffer from resistance problems, too.

“Superbugs” like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureas, or MRSA, increased from roughly 2 percent to more than 50 percent of staph infections in many U.S. hospitals between 1974 and 2004. More people in the United States die each year from MRSA than HIV/AIDS. In the developing world, millions of children die annually from drug resistant disease strains and since 2006 donors have spent more than $1.5 billion on advanced drugs to treat resistant diseases. Unless action is taken, the stage is set for both the death toll and the dollar cost to rise. Donors are already budgeting for increased purchases of expensive specialized drugs needed to treat resistant diseases.

The report urges the World Health Organization (WHO) to reverse a decade of neglect of drug resistance and to take the lead in getting others involved. Action is needed from a wide variety of stakeholders -- pharmaceutical companies, national governments, philanthropies that buy and distribute medicines, hospitals, healthcare providers, pharmacies, and even patients.

In recent years governments and private funders have worked to increase developing-country access to drugs, particularly for malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis. Access to anti-retroviral drugs for HIV/AIDS patients rose more than 10-fold, deliveries of the most effective anti-malarial drugs increased more than eight-fold, and access to TB drugs rose dramatically.

These are laudable efforts that have saved many lives, but they are hindered by drug resistance that could be avoided, the report said. Until now, surprisingly little effort has gone into ensuring that life-saving drugs will continue to work.

The report shows that there is a strong link between the volume of drug use and emergence of drug resistance, particularly in settings with weak safeguards for appropriate use and monitoring of effectiveness. In countries where people consume the highest amounts of antibiotics, 75 to 90 percent of strep pneumoniae strains are already drugresistant.

The consequences can be most profound for children, who are especially susceptible to infectious diseases.

Common childhood diseases in developing countries - malaria, pneumonia, other respiratory infections and dysentery -- can no longer be cured by the older antibiotics or other drugs available in poor countries. Bacterial acute respiratory infections, for example, kill more than three www.africasciencenews.org 21

million children every year and malaria kills two million.

Many of these cases involve strains resistant to common drugs. Across Latin America, 60 to 80 percent of childhood strains that cause dysentery are resistant to the drugs recommended to treat it.

“Drug resistance is a serious problem that doesn’t get serious attention,” said CGD President Nancy Birdsall.

“It is hard to see that people are dying from drug resistance -- but they are. We know what actions are needed to fix the problem,” she said. “We just lack the incentives, institutions, and global leadership to get on with it.”

Drug resistance can have a startling impact on the cost of curing patients. In many poor countries, drug expenditures range from 20 to 60 percent of total expenditure on health.

When first-line drugs fail, alternatives are more costly and require greater medical oversight. Curing one patient of extensively drug-resistant TB costs the same as curing 200 patients with ordinary TB. “Over the past decade, the global community has responded to the rise in drug-resistant organisms with a number of disease- or country-specific initiatives,” Nugent said. “Some have been more successful than others, but none have addressed the problem on a global scale and across diseases. “The growing threat of drug resistance demands a more extensive and systematic global response,” she said.

To address that threat, CGD in late 2007 convened a Working Group comprised of representatives of governments, foundations and charities, health institutions, the pharmaceutical industry and academia to develop concrete, achievable steps that could make a difference.

Its report, released with a companion film at a National Press Club briefing, identifies for the first time the common drivers of resistance across diseases -- a mix of technology gaps, behavior that leads to inappropriate use of medicines, weak health systems, poor drug quality, and excessive use of antibiotics in agriculture.

Because so many forces are at work, the report calls for collective action by a variety of players in a shared global push to fight drug resistance.

For example, drug companies must help to ensure that their products are safe and effective, even after they are sold. Governments must properly regulate drug licensing, manufacturing, distribution and use, and support public health lab facilities and surveillance systems. Donors and philanthropies should ensure that their efforts to increase access to drugs in the developing world are accompanied by measures to protect the continued effectiveness of treatment. Global health institutions, including WHO, should make drug resistance a priority across all treatable diseases. Lastly, patients, prescribers and dispensers must be more diligent in using medicines appropriately.

Stressing a unified and multi-faceted approach involving both the public and private sectors, the Working Group makes four recommendations that, taken together, will go far to contain and reduce drug resistance globally. “We can no longer afford to be indifferent to the spread of drugresistant diseases,” Nugent said. “For the sake of all people who seek effective health care, now and in the future, drug resistance must be addressed urgently and aggressively as a global health priority.”

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Women best in fighting hunger

A woman harvesting mature kale leaves. 80% of African women spend their time carrying out agricultural activities, mostly on subsistent levels to feed their families.

Women have to be at the center of efforts to address chronic hunger and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa if the continent is to overcome the annual shame of begging for food, leading women scientists have said .

Women account for as much as 80 percent of Africa’s food production.

But their access to land, to vital services, such as credit, and to improved technologies is extremely limited.

They receive only 5 percent of agricultural extension training and 10 percent of rural credit. Furthermore, few agricultural projects are being designed to address women’s specific needs.

Only a quarter of its researchers and development experts are women, and only 14 percent of the management positions in agricultural research and development are female.

“Science is crucial to building a pathway out of poverty,” said Sheila Ommeh, a Kenyan scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). “Yet, few young Africans are pursuing careers in agricultural research and science. We need support in expanding that number.” www.africasciencenews.org

“Investing in women is the smart solution to Africa’s hunger,” said Kenyan horticulture Prof Mary AbukutsaOnyango. “It will help ensure that US development resources yield maximum returns in reducing food insecurity and poverty.”

The women called on Clinton and Vilsack to help convey it to African policy makers.

The scientists form part of a program called African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD). Coordinated by the Gender & Diversity Program of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), AWARD provides 60 fellowships yearly to boost the female talent pool supporting Africa’s farmers, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

“Agriculture is recognized as an engine for economic growth in Africa. What is less well recognized is that women run this engine. From before dawn to after dusk, they keep all its parts moving,” said Vicki Wilde, director of the Gender & Diversity Program of the CGIAR. “We cannot defeat hunger and poverty in Africa unless women have a strong voice.”

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Despite the limitations faced by Africa’s female farmers, recent cases demonstrate how well-crafted policies and programs can achieve major impact by targeting women, based on knowledge of their important role in agricultural production, according to the World Development Report 2008: Agriculture for Development.

A CGIAR program aimed at widening the impact of improved bean varieties reached more than 35 million rural people in seven countries of eastern and southern Africa by targeting women, who primarily grow the crop. Bean experts relied on informal channels to which female farmers have ready access, like community and church groups, for distributing small, affordable packets of bean seed.

Offering 30 to 50 percent higher yields, the highly nutritious and marketable new beans are helping women bolster household food security and raise their incomes.

Ommeh and Abukutsa-Onyango pointed to further opportunities for smart investment in women farmers, focused on the production of local chicken breeds that are resistant to disease and marketing of indigenous African vegetables.

The scientists also stressed that, in order for such initiatives to multiply and succeed, it is vital that African women gain more influence over priorities, policies and programs.

An encouraging sign are recent findings showing the gender gap in Africa’s agricultural science narrowing.

Between 2000 and 2008, the proportion of female professional staff in Africa’s agricultural research and higher education grew from 18 to 24 percent, according to a recent study carried out by AWARD and the CGIAR-supported International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

“Even women scientists who have completed their education and entered the work force may still drop out because of obstacles they encounter on the career ladder, so few reach positions of leadership,” said Wilde.

“AWARD better enables these women to stay on track by supporting them in their efforts to help farmers in their countries.” Now in its second year, AWARD has provided fellowships to 120 women scientists from 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

AWARD’s focus on strengthening women’s leadership capacity is consistent with more than 15 years of rigorous gender analysis dealing with rural households.

For example, the World Development Report 2008 concluded that “women need to be engaged at far more senior levels than is generally the case – in scientific research, in ministries of agriculture and in local governments.”

“To bring about Africa’s long-awaited revolution in smallholder production,” Wilde explained, “agricultural research and extension organizations must recognize the importance of women farmers and of their social networks for diffusing technology and knowledge.

They urgently need to recruit and train more female staff, especially in places where cultural norms restrict interaction between males and females.” www.africasciencenews.org 23

Youth major Blood donors People under the age of 25 contribute an estimated 38% of reported voluntary blood donations, according to new global data from the World Health Organization (WHO), released on World Blood Donor Day, 14 June.

World Blood Donor Day is celebrated each year to highlight the contribution voluntary unpaid blood donors make to public health. This year’s slogan, “New blood for the world,” aims to raise awareness of the role young people play in maintaining supplies of safe blood.

“This is the first time we have data for blood donation by age,” said Carissa Etienne, Assistant Director-General for Health Systems and Services at WHO. “It’s important to see that in many countries a lot of young people are already giving blood.

Countries can use this to encourage more young people to become donors.”

Figures from the 2008 Blood Safety Survey reveal that 14 countries collect more than half of their total donations from under 25s: Botswana Burkina Faso, Gabon , Guinea , India , Jordan , Kiribati , Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malawi , Papua New Guinea , Republic of Korea , Tuvalu , Viet Nam and Zimbabwe .

Standard age limits for blood donation are 18 to 65 years of age, but in some countries donations are accepted from people as young as 16 years, provided their parents consent. Voluntary unpaid donations are preferred over paid donations because supplies are generally safer, and there is less risk of donor exploitation. Evidence suggests that voluntary donations also promote other healthy lifestyle choices among young donors.

“Young people are the hope and future of a safe blood supply in the world,” said Dr Neelam Dhingra, Coordinator of Blood Transfusion Safety at WHO. “We are confident more countries can achieve 100 per cent voluntary unpaid blood donation if they focus efforts on engaging young people.”

Today, 62 countries obtain all, or nearly all (more than 99%), of their blood supplies from unpaid donors – up from 57 last year. Belarus , Islamic Republic of Iran, Kenya , Malaysia and Zambia are the latest to join this list. “In 77 countries, however, donations are still well below the level required to meet patients’ needs,” Dr Dhingra added.

WHO recommends that blood donation by at least 1% a country’s population is generally sufficient to meet a country’s basic requirements for safe blood.

Requirements are higher in countries with more developed health systems. Among the greatest needs: to replace blood lost in childbirth (a major cause of maternal deaths worldwide), and to treat the anaemia that threatens the lives of thousands of children who have malaria or are undernourished.

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Fellowships for Women Scientists from Sub-Saharan

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Postgraduate Training Fellowships for Women Scientists from Sub-Saharan Africa and Least Developed Countries

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Job Description: This fellowship programme is for female students from SubSaharan Africa or Least Developed Countries (LDCs) who wish to pursue postgraduate training leading to a doctorate degree at a centre of excellence in the South outside their own country in the field of natural sciences.

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* Please read the following information carefully before applying. * Only women scientists from Sub-Saharan Africa and/or one of the Least Developed Countries can apply.

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Purpose: The Third World Organization for Women in Science (TWOWS) with funds generously provided by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), has instituted a fellowship programme for female students from Sub-Saharan Africa and Least Developed Countries (LDCs), who wish to pursue postgraduate training leading to a Ph.D., at centres of excellence in the South (developing countries), outside their own country.

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15 – 21 November 2009, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia The Biosciences eastern and central Africa (BecA) Hub is seeking ways to empower the African scientific community to lead the coming agricultural revolution.

Communication of research findings in reputed peer-reviewed journals is the standard by which scientists and their findings are evaluated by the scientific community.

Such publications also afford higher visibility to research findings, helping to ensure assimilation into related studies and agricultural improvement efforts throughout the region and around the world.

In our larger effort to enhance the impact of African science, BecA, has received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to host a workshop on technical research paper writing.

The five-day journal article writing workshop will be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 15 – 21 November, 2009.

* To empower a new generation of talented women to assume a leadership role in science and technology and their application to sustainable development.

Selected participants will benefit from intensive, hands-on training by professionals from Scriptoria (http://www.scriptoria.co.uk/), a UK-based company that provides development-related communications services.

Eligibility: The fellowships are open to qualified young women science graduates (generally below 40 years of age) from countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and/or LDCs.

Attendees will use their own draft manuscripts in the training with the goal of submitting the manuscript for journal publication within one month of completing the workshop.

The minimum qualification of applicants is an M.Sc. degree (or equivalent), or an outstanding B.Sc. honours degree, in the natural sciences.

Important:

We anticipate selecting up to 20 scientists, from national research programs or universities in the region, who are currently conducting agricultural research.

Up to two authors per manuscript may be considered depending upon the number of applicants.

The host institute where the applicant wishes to pursue her doctorate degree must be in a developing country other than her own.

The applicant must be willing to return to her own country after completion of the fellowship.

Selection: The fellowships are highly competitive, and the selection will be based on scientific competence and merit.

24

Technical/research paper writing workshop

We are seeking applicants with a strong interest in improving their writing skills.

Applicants already on site in the host country will not be considered eligible.

AFRICAN SCIENCE

Applications must be clearly typewritten in English and completed in all parts; TWOWS will not process incomplete and/or illegible applications. TWOWS will inform the applicant as soon as the application is processed.

The application form is available as a MS Word document. * Application Form (MS Word version) * Sample research outline Closing date: 31 July 2010

* To increase the scientific productivity and creativity of women scientists in Sub-Saharan Africa and LDCs.

Following recent discussions with donors, earlier restrictions that limited eligible research projects to those in the basic sciences have been dropped.

Therefore, applications can now be accepted from female scientists in all branches of the natural sciences.

www.africasciencenews.org

Two referee letters from senior scientists familiar with the applicant’s studies must be enclosed with the application in sealed envelopes OR must be sent by email to info@twows.org.

Priority will be given to the primary author in the event of space limitations.

We hope to include scientists from a range of disciplines with varying levels of research experience.

Funding for travel and accommodation will be provided. Successful applicants will be notified by 15 October 2009, and provided with information on travel and other logistics. Requirements: • Fluency in English • PhD or MSc in any bioscience area • Currently employed by an African national research program or university Workshop sponsors:

The applications will be reviewed by a panel of eminent scientists, appointed by the Executive Board of TWOWS.

Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives.

Application: Applicants should complete all parts of the application form, and enclose copies of all university degree certificates, and the university-issued transcripts, which should include grades, courses taken, etc.

In developing countries, the Foundation focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty.

If the applicant has already gained admission at an institution of excellence in the South (i.e., in a developing country), a copy of the letter of acceptance from the institution must be enclosed.

In the United States, the Foundation seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life.

If the applicant is registered for a doctorate degree at an institution in her home country, and wishes to pursue part of her research at another institution under a “sandwich programme”, a letter of recommendation from the home institute supervisor must be enclosed.

For further information, please visit the website: www.gatesfoundation.org

www.africasciencenews.org 25

AFRICAN SCIENCE

TB drugs: Scarcity in the pipeline In an exclusive interview with Africa Science, Tony Hawkridge, Head of AERAS Africa Office, a global initiative dedicated to the development of effective tuberculosis vaccine explains how the low participation of candidates in clinical trials impacts the development of TB vaccines in Africa and why it is important to emphasize on alternatives to a developed clinical research environment.

Since early 1980, a number of TB vaccines have been developed, but a few numbers of candidates in Africa proved to have an immune response which is thought may be protective. Is this symbolic of the failure of clinical trials on the continent?

The last decade has seen a steady increase in the number of new TB vaccine candidates which have been shown to be safe, well tolerated, immunogenic which means ‘capable of eliciting an immune response’ and efficacious (capable of protecting the recipient from TB when exposed to it) in animals. Some of these have now gone into clinical trials.

Most of the countries in the world with high TB rates are in sub-Saharan Africa . Some Nations on the continent have, in addition to high TB rates, a well developed clinical research environment – experienced investigators, high quality laboratories, efficient referral systems and clinical backup, good surveillance for key events, etc. These countries are well placed to participate in TB vaccine trials.

However, the later phase clinical trials (Phase 2b and 3), where one is actually testing whether the vaccine protects against TB, can only be done in areas where there is a lot of TB, where volunteers are likely to be exposed to TB in their homes, schools, workplaces, villages, etc., so that the investigators can see whether the vaccine works or not.

Those which have not been in Africa yet will very likely be tested in trials at some point in their development.

How many volunteers are set to take part in these clinical trials?

The number of volunteers in each of these later phase studies is very large – in the thousands to tens of thousands of volunteers per trial. Most of the new vaccines were invented and are manufactured in Western Europe or North America . Before they go into trials in Africa they are first tested in animals (mice, guinea pigs, monkeys) and then in healthy adult volunteers in the countries where they were invented/manufactured. The regulatory authorities of the African countries where the trials are planned usually require this option.

But, trials in Africa have recorded a low participation in terms of candidates. How valid is this argument?

At least half of the 12 new TB vaccines mentioned on the Stop TB Vaccine Working Group website have been or are in clinical trials in Africa - these include MVA85A/ AERAS485, AERAS402/Crucell ad35, SSI HYVAC 4/ AERAS404, SSI Hybrid 1, GSK M72 and M Vaccae. Those which have not been in Africa yet will very likely be tested in trials on the continent at some point in their development - these include RUTI, rBCG30, the AERAS 407 rBCG and others. Early phase (Phase 1 and 2a) clinical trials of new TB vaccines can be performed virtually anywhere in the world where there is a good Phase 1 clinical trials unit – the volunteers need to be healthy and the set up needs www.africasciencenews.org

to be adequate to monitor them closely. The number of volunteers in each of these early phase studies is usually small – less than 50 per trial. TB Vaccine trials seem to be new in Africa .

From you experience, Am I right to say that things are developing around the continent?

TB vaccine trials have actually been conducted in Africa for many years – large BCG trials were conducted in Malawi and M vaccae trials were done in S Africa and other countries in the 1980’s and 1990’s. So Africa is not new to TB vaccine trials. Much of what we know about BCG is based on research conducted in Africa .

What is new is that a new generation of novel TB vaccines is now being trialed in Africa . The trial site near Cape Town which is run by the South African TB Vaccine Initiative, at the University of Cape Town, has in the last few years conducted trials on four different novel TB vaccines (MVA85A/ AERAS 485, HYVAC 4 / AERAS 404, GSK M72, and AERAS 402/Crucell ad35).At first it was just a few African countries – notably The Gambia, Senegal and South Africa, but more countries are now participating – Kenya started a trial in 2008 and other countries are hoping to follow suit shortly (including Uganda, Mozambique and possibly others).

Do you have any more specifications in terms of figures on candidates (volunteers) who have undergone these injections?

No official figures, but , if you consider that each Phase I trial enrols up to 50 volunteers, each Phase 2A up to 200, each Phase 2B up to 4000 and each Phase 3 up to 30 000 (these are just rough estimates), and that each candidate requires 10-20 early phase trials and 2-3 late phase trials, then you can see that for the more advanced candidates we are talking about a few thousand individuals who have already received the vaccine (or placebo) and some tens of thousands who will have received it by the time it goes to registration.

As I mentioned, for the late phase trials, all of these individuals have to be in high burden populations, usually in high burden countries and for the early phase trials some of them will be.

The current available BCG (Bacille Calmette Guerin) is nearly 90 years old, how far are you confident for the success of the current trials?

It is difficult to quantify how confident we are – developing vaccines against TB is extremely difficult and even if a candidate is shown to be safe, well tolerated and immunogenic in early studies, it may simply fail at the last stage and not show significant protection or there may be an unexpected safety concern that was not seen in early trials, such as happened with one of the first rotavirus vaccines.

Having said that, we are very optimistic that there are so AFRICAN SCIENCE

26

A TB activists shares her experiences at a past TB awareness campaign in South Africa.The war against TB is being challenged by lack of new drugs in research pipeline.

many apparently good candidates coming through and we are very hopeful that at least one of them will “go all the way”. Sub Saharan Africa is home to 9 of 22 countries with the highest TB burden, according your findings. What are the main constraints you are facing when conducting trials as regards to social, political and cultural environment in Africa There are constraints to doing trials anywhere in the world. Some of them are fairly constant – e.g. the high financial costs – whilst others vary with the setting. I think it is important to focus not only on constraints but on opportunities which working in Africa presents.

It is true that in some areas of Africa infrastructure is less developed than in e.g. North America . This applies to both general infrastructure (e.g. roads, telephones, IT networks, banks, security, vehicle maintenance, etc.) and to clinical research infrastructure (e.g. the presence of TB and immunology laboratories, adequate surveillance systems for TB and other key events, referral systems for trial volunteers who become ill, facilities where TB can be accurately diagnosed, etc.).

This can be a great challenge for researchers. In one area where we sponsor research, the terrain is so rough that the nurses have to ride off-road motorcycles to do home visits.

That is obviously a challenge.

Having said that, there has been great progress made in building infrastructure in Africa and there are now many centers of excellence which can boast facilities and expertise which rivals or exceeds that found in North America and Western Europe .

TB is so well known in most African populations that it www.africasciencenews.org 27

is not difficult getting political and community support for initiatives to develop new tools to fight the epidemic. The same might not be the case in areas of the world where TB is seldom or never seen.

AERAS Global TB vaccine foundation is conducting research on TB vaccine, am I right to say that you are satisfied of what is being done to benefit from vulnerable group on the continent?

In the long term, an effective TB vaccine which is made available to high burden countries at an affordable price will benefit everyone – rich and poor, but particularly the poor and marginalized, since TB is predominantly a disease of poverty.

One can never be satisfied with what is being done, as long as there is a disease out there which is killing 3 million people a year worldwide and making 9 million sick. Yes, we would all like more to be done. We have been very generously funded by the Gates Foundation, the Dutch Government and other groups.

However, as pointed out, vaccine development is extremely expensive, and it would be good to have additional funding in order to do everything we would like to do and not just the basics.

From the epidemiological study you have been conducting, what is a realistic duration (viability) of a TB vaccine for candidates?

We know that the protective effect of BCG, for what it is, does not last forever – it wanes after a few years. We do not know how long the protective effect of the new TB vaccines will last – right now, as I mentioned, we do not even know whether they will be protective – that will hopefully be AFRICAN SCIENCE

Kenya seeks new IP regime

Continue from Page 27

shown in the current Phase 2B trials and ultimately in the Phase 3 trials.

We hope that the protection they confer will be long lasting. It may be that one will require a number of booster doses of the vaccine.

You have made a formal proposal urging African nations to earmark more resources in health infrastructure.

How confident are you of a positive response to this proposal?

We are hoping to have a new vaccine licensed and available by 2016 - the first new TB vaccine. We hope that others will follow.

The effect of introducing a new, more effective vaccine will take some time to work through to the global epidemiology of the disease – there are about 2 billion people in the world infected with TB who could potentially develop TB disease and become infectious – so it will take time to turn things around.

In the meantime it is vital that countries continue to do the basics right – that means ensuring that all infants who are not HIV infected receive BCG as per World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations.

All persons who are suspected of having TB should be tested for both TB and HIV and those with disease diagnosed as soon as is possible and referred for appropriate treatment, and that all those placed on treatment for TB adhere to it, through the use of the DOTS strategy.

By Micheal Ouma

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Kenya is set to take the country into the next Internet Protocol (IP) address regime by 2012. The move is necessitated by the imminent depletion of the current IP addresses in the next few years.

Experts say the remaining address spaces are estimated to last for just about 1,000 days.

The depletion of the internet address spaces is because IPv4, the current IP regime which has been in use for more than 20 years, are limited at only about 4 billion addresses shared worldwide, against a global population of about 6.2 billion currently.

The Internet Protocol (IP) is a protocol used for communicating data across a packet-switched internetwork using the Internet Protocol Suite, also referred to as TCP/ IP. IP is the primary protocol in the Internet Layer of the Internet Protocol Suite and has the task of delivering distinguished protocol datagrams (packets) from the source host to the destination host solely based on their addresses.

Information from the Kenya Network Information Centre (KENIC), which manages .KE domain, indicates that the demand for IP addresses has increased due to increased adoption, as mobile phones, TV sets, refrigerators, cars, robots and even cameras are connected and controlled via the internet.

The solution, according to KENIC, is the deployment of IPv6, which provides for a much larger number of addresses, as the current IPv4 addresses are set to be depleted by 2011.

To foresee the country’s transition and adoption of IPv6, the ministry of information and communications in conjunction with KENIC, Africa Network Information Centre (AfriNIC), the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), the Kenya ICT Board (KICTB) and the Telecommunication Service Providers Association of Kenya (TESPOK) formed the Kenya IPv6 taskforce in August 2008.

Esther Wanjau, the IPv6 taskforce chair, says that its mandate was to develop strategies for nationwide deployment of IPv6, to ensure the achievement of nationwide transition in 2012.

Wanjau, who is also a senior ICT director at the ministry of information and communications, says that the taskforce’s key focus areas are awareness creation, capacity building (by training at least 200 local ICT professionals on allocation, assignment and management of IP number resources and IPv4 to IPv6 transition mechanisms), research and policy development.

“The taskforce has to train people on IPv6 by December this year and have a ‘testbed’ for IPv6 ready by January 2010 in readiness for the ICANN meeting to be held in Nairobi,” says Wanjau.

Timothy McGinnis, an African internet infrastructure consultant said “Africa’s IPv4 will last longer than other regions,” as the continent’s remaining IPv4 addresses could be exhausted in 1,046 days, 686 days after the global central registry IPv4 address exhaustion.”

McGinnis, also a trainer on IP resource distribution, www.africasciencenews.org 29

Youths in a class learning about website development. Internet-related businesses have so risen up that IP address regime have to expand.

African connectivity and internet governance, says that Kenya is among the top ten countries in Africa in order of IPv6 allocations, with 8 entities, among them five internet service providers (ISPs), having been allocated IPv6 spaces.

The entities include Swift global, Africa Online, Jamii Telecoms, UUNET Kenya, One Communications Ltd and three infrastructure providers - KeNIC, the Kenya Internet Exchange Point (KIXP) and Mombasa Internet Exchange Point – with the three getting smaller blocks of IPv6.

Kenya’s ISPs are to benefit from the transition from IPv4 to IPv6 as they will be able to offer a host of new services, examples being integrated “remote controlled” value- added services like sensors, video, personal security/or safety services and refrigerator re-stocking advisories indicating which IP-address tagged drink, eggs, or vegetables are running out.

“The other benefit is that there will be no cost of acquiring new IPv6 addresses for internet users except that they will pay for the services built and provided atop the new addressing IPv6 scheme,” he says.

The other African countries in the top ten IPv6 allocations ranking include Zambia with 21, Egypt with 6, Tanzania with 4 and Nigeria and Ghana, both with 2 allocations, among others.

Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), the next-generation IP version, is the successor to IPv4, the first IP regime still in use currently, whose [update]main driver for adoption and use is the foreseeable depletion of IPv4 address spaces.

IPv6 has a larger address space than IPv4, thereby providing flexibility in allocating addresses.

But even with the impending depletion of IPv4, McGinnis is cautious about the transition, saying that the migration to IPv6 “is moving very slowly, as uptake of IPv6 not happening as earlier planned.”

The reason for the slow adoption, he says, is because “there is no killer application or websites driving IPv6,” in addition to “lack of market mechanism as well as current little demand for and huge supply of IPv6.”

AFRICAN SCIENCE

cover story

Adherence to

clinical trials

By Henry Neondo While the need for an efficacious and acceptable tools to combat and defeat HIV such as vaginal microbicide gel, vaccines etc is recognized, serious challenges remain regarding adherence with clinical protocols required to prove efficacy during large scale drug trials.

Adherence is a big issue----especially made so by current approaches to research which require clinical proofs to every concepts.

Adherence can decide the failure or success of research--at times give wrong picture of an outcome---a potentially good product being rejected because few trial participants used it during research trial.

A number of countries in sub-Saharan Africa are preparing for HIV vaccine efficacy trials and so are trials for microbicides. Social and behavioural factors related to HIV transmission require examination in each setting where these trials are considered. As part of this, several countries have also recently begun preparatory research investigating relevant social and behavioural issues.

During the debate over the subject at the International Microbicides conference, it emerged that many participants are coming on board for research trials for the accompanying services as opposed to really taking part by making use of products for trial.

According to Susan Buchbinder, Director of the HIV Research section of the San Francisco Department of Public health and Co-chair of the Step Vaccine study said given that efficacy trials take 3-4 years to yield results, and given unpredictability of adherence in trials, it might prudent to develop new trial designs as well as diversify approaches in trials.

Historically social and behavioural research has been conducted at the level of being adjunct or handmaiden in HIV prevention trials. “Its purpose is to elucidate the likelihood that clinical trial population in the first place and larger population in the second case, will take up a particular prevention tool as prescribed, to help assess the safety and efficacy of that particular prevention tool”, said Dr Judith D Auerbach, who had also received the 2008 Career Award from the Sociologists AIDS Network.

Because of its importance, researchers are being challenged to begin looking at factors that influence adherence more closely.

According to social studies Dr Judith has analyzed, adherence varies within trials by sites, by participants, by partnership types, by sex acts, for instance.

Adherence depends upon study participants’ understanding on how these products are to be used when there are more than one tool like condom and diaphragm, condom and gel.

In fact, in a clinical trial (HPTN035), women study participants thought that the gel should only be used when condoms were also used.

There were low levels of exclusive gel use when condoms were not used. Dr Judith said that over time, she has learnt that adherence is also affected by participants’ belief about www.africasciencenews.org

Dr Susan Buchbinder, Director of the HIV Research section of the San Francisco Department of Public health and Co-chair of the Step Vaccine study

these products.

Like in diaphragm study participants believed that diaphragm have already shown protection against HIV and condoms weren’t necessary. Adherence is also affected by sexual and vaginal practices across populations and is affected by gender and relationship dynamics.

“Historically microbicides advocates believed that women need a product under their own control unlike male condom that is not under their control, and may like to use a product without the knowledge of their male partner” said Judith Auerbach. “We have learnt from research in this area that many women may like control and covert use of such products but not all. Desire for control and covert use vary by population, by culture, by setting, by sexual relationship. Control, as framed by many advocates, is an alien concept in many cultures.

And covert use is often quite undesirable. In many settings women and their partners want sharing this decision making about using HIV prevention tools and this is a construct of their interpersonal and cultural frame, about gender and relationship dynamics, their sexual practices and their desire and pleasure”.

In trials involving women, pregnancy or potential pregnancy is problematic. Those who become pregnant are taken out of study.

Less or no data exists between effect of these products on pregnant women or their embryo and is also not helpful in the research trial considering the end point of the study.

Notwithstanding the fact that intending to get pregnant is an exclusion criteria, women in trials are encouraged to use one and increasingly two forms of contraceptions.

Like in microbicides trials, pregnancy rates were between 4 to 40 per 100 woman years. This has implication for both the conduct and the interpretation of the trial. If the participants reduce the use of protective products, during pregnancy, it will affect the assessment of maximum detectable effectiveness of the product and also the lower detectable effectiveness of the product.

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“Actually there is not that much behavioural or social research on pregnancy and perspectives of women participating in a trial. The notion of ‘intention to get pregnant’ may not be a very meaningful notion in many cultural contexts. We have learnt that fertility and parenthood, desires and expectations of women and their male partners, their values and religion, cultures and other such factors are strong and often override the public health benefits of prevention” said Judith.

“We have also learnt that asking women to use triple or even quadruple protection may be unrealistic and unreasonable in fact” said Judith.

Undoubtedly, social and behavioural research is absolutely critical to understanding these issues around acceptability, adherence, control, covert use and pregnancy, in the context of clinical trials. These issues signify other deeper and social cultural realities, they characterize the context in which these prevention tools are introduced, modified and incorporated by individuals and communities, and will continue to limit the efficacy of products in a clinical research trial. These realities are themselves not addressed generally in a clinical trial. “It is much more useful to look at practices rather than behaviours. The term practices convey the social dimension of the behaviours” said Judith.

Practical and socially induced behaviours are usually organized by culture. Sexual and other behaviours related to HIV prevention are characterised by social norms.

“Sexual practices for example are influenced by prevailing norms and structures related to gender, love, intimacy, sexuality, pleasure, fertility and family” said Judith.

“As an example, in a rectal microbicide acceptability study, there were interviews conducted on unprotected anal intercourse with men - HIV seropositive or serostatus unknown. One of the notion was that women must engage in anal sex coerced by their male partner but these interviews show that women weren’t being coerced into having anal sex rather acted on their own behalf or in their own interest.

Rather they follow the sexual script that allows the male partner to take the initiative in initiating anal sex, that women actually find enjoyable as it brings pleasure, intimacy, it is in some ways exceptional and therefore exciting sexual practice, and it allows them to please their partner” said Judith.

Where women are involved, sexual practices may get affected by vaginal practices such as washing, douching, drying etc. These practices are quite wide spread in countries in Africa where microbicides clinical trials are also currently occurring. These practices are related to norms, values and hygiene.

In general the expectation is that the woman’s vagina should be dry allowing optimal protection and sensation during sex. “We also learnt that these practices are linked to social norms, values, beliefs, that challenged the study to assess effectiveness of certain HIV prevention tools” said Judith.

HIV is a relational matter but very little research has been done on dynamics of relationship. Women usually incorporate gels and other prevention tools during a study, into their own sexual and vaginal practices.

Similarly a survey on use of lubricants during anal sex, www.africasciencenews.org 31

found that 60% of respondents added another substance in the lubricant they use, often spit or saliva, during anal sex. So people will incorporate these new prevention technologies into their existing practices.

Medical research is socially embedded and is affected by social relation.

“Social science can interrogate how the technology has been incorporated by the people and communities and it can elucidate how medical research and participants’ practices are intertwined” said Judith.

“The in-depth interviews conducted with women trial participants, fundamentally challenged some of the normative concepts we have in microbicides clinical trial research around acceptability, covert use, dry sex among others. For example they found that women want to involve their male partners in gel use.

Although the women hope that the gel may prevent HIV they are just as interested in a product that may enhance sexual pleasure for themselves and their partners. The binding in the gel increased sexual pleasure and surprised the researchers because of the prevalent norm of dry sex in these communities” said Judith.

Over the gel use enhancing sexual pleasure and sexual gratification, providing a greater level of intimacy for both women and men, it helps enhance and secure women’s relationship.

Some women described how their partners no longer went to other women, or how their husbands are paying much more attention.

It is beyond doubt that social science research is not just a handmaiden to biomedical research in HIV prevention.

The biomedical research in HIV prevention should be complemented and informed by non-trial focus social science research.

Monitoring adherence To help monitor adherence, a number of tools are being explored. For example, D. Fairhurst, Xigo Nanotools, PA, US and partners from the International Partnership for Microbicides are developing the use of electronic devices and sensors to monitor adherence in microbicide trials.

They aim to develop a Smart Applicator (SA) system which comprises three elements.

A single-use vaginal applicator containing a temperature sensor and an electronic module to regulate acquisition of biometric data during vaginal dosing, a reader with USB interface to receive data wirelessly from the SA after a return clinic and a ComplianceClerk Software.

For test purposes the SA was filled with KY Jelly. Accuracy and precision of time, date and volume of gel delivery were verified under controlled laboratory conditions.

The team told participants that preliminary results demonstrate the potential utility of the SA system to monitor adherence to clinical trial protocol.

Work is however in progress to develop a Gen II version that addresses some of the operational limitations found in the present study, to further optimize the design.

Then there is the wisebag, (which records opening events and can provide automated reminders) was developed to provide an indirect, objective measures of adherence and suppot participants adherence with cell phone reminders.

T. Gengiah of the center for the ----Continue page 35 AFRICAN SCIENCE

AGRICULTURE

Tanzania: Concerns

for Bt cotton

Dr Susan Buchbinder, Director of the HIV Research section of the San Francisco Department of Public health and Co-chair of the Step Vaccine study

By Oshingi Shilla

To increase cotton production and improve the national economy, Tanzania could revive cotton production in Southern Highlands.

The production of cotton in this area, has not been allowed since 1968 in a bid to fight against the red bollworm (Diparopsis castanea) infestation.

The red bollworm was threatening to invade Tanzania from southern Africa, and the quarantine was seen as a proper management strategy of control after the failure of the synthetic insecticides.

Genetically modified (GM) cotton with insecticidal properties (containing a gene from the Bacillus thuringiensis bacterium, the so-called Bt gene, whose product is toxic to insects) is seen as a potential solution to the threat of bollworm infestation. Cotton varieties transformed with genes from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) are resistant to a www.africasciencenews.org

number of lepidopteran bollworm pests of cotton.

Bt cotton varieties have been widely adopted in Australia, China, India, the USA and elsewhere.

To date, South Africa is the only country in SSA that has planted Bt cotton, but many other African countries are soon to do so.

World cotton consumption in 2010-11 is projected at 118.5 million bales — up by 2.6 per cent from 2009-10.

Global stocks for the 2009-10 marketing year are reducing and are estimated to fall by 18 per cent, according to the latest US department of agriculture report (March 2010).

Major world cotton markets include East Africa, Tanzania, Uganada, Zimbabwe, Uzb­ekistan, West Africa, Central Asia and the US. Most west African and central Asian cotton is exported, compared with only 40 per cent of US cotton and 60 per cent of Greek cotton. Prices in countries that export most of their cotton are more likely to converge than in countries where prices are subject to both domestic and international demand conditions.

However, GM crops pose environmental concerns warranting ecological risk assessment be done prior to AFRICAN SCIENCE

32

their introduction.

Concerns Some of the concerns are the following: Bt cotton can hybridise with wild and /or feral cotton and transfer its Bt gene, increasing the likelihood of resistance build-up against the Bt toxin.

Bt cotton may impact negatively on non-target species leading to biodiversity loss. Such loss can affect beneficial insects which could undermine agricultural productivity.

These issues are in line with the Tanzanian biosafety regulations (Tanzania, 2009) which call for an ecological risk assessment to be conducted prior to GM crop introduction.

The ecological risk assessment inputs with respect to Bt cotton include baseline information on the diversity, frequency and distribution of wild or feral relatives of cotton and their reproductive mechanisms.

Tanzania is a center of origin for one wild cotton species (Gossypium longicalyx) which is not known to hybridise with cultivated cotton. However, Gossyipium barbadense which was introduced by the Arabs in the colonial era, is now found as feral plants in some parts of the county and it may potentially hybridise with cultivated cotton.

The feral plants are maintained for medicinal and fibre use even in the quarantined Southern Highlands. Their low numbers enable them to act as host to the Red bollworm preventing total eradication of the pest.

The study This study assessed feral Gossypium barbadense diversity (presence of hybrids), frequency and distribution in the Southern Highlands using both a field survey and experiments to establish hybridization potential with cultivated Gossypium hirsutum.

The use of morphological and molecular markers including a review of existing information enabled confirmation of the presence of hybrids and potential production of viable first generation offspring when the two species were crossed.

The morphological markers revealed that feral G. barbadense, is compatible to G. hirsutum.

However, there some phenotypic variations observed with the wild G. barbadense suggesting that the feral G. barbadense may have acquired new traits through hybridisation with cultivated varieties.

Regardless of the variations and the fact that cotton is a facultative self-pollinating crop, feral G. barbadense had great affinity to cultivars producing fertile first generation offspring.

The molecular and morphological markers also showed that there is a clear distinction between parents and offsprings confirming the adequacy of the discrimination capacity of the analysis tools.

2.

The Southern Highlands still has feral G. barbadense plants that can potentially hybridise with G. hirsutum cultivars.

However, the frequency of occurrence of G. barbadense in the Southern Highlands is low as no populations were found.

The period to flowering of G. barbadense is longer than that of G. hirsutum cultivars suggesting that this may present potential crossing barriers.

3. It is possible to discriminate hybrids from parents both morphologically and by molecular markers, 4.

Despite the quarantine in Southern Highlands, the red bollworm has persisted to date 5.

The feral G. barbadense is valued by local communities due to its utility as a medicinal plant and filter.

Further studies are required to cover the un-surveyed areas of Tanzania and to test the hybridization of genetically modified Bt cotton with feral cotton before Bt cotton adoption.

As the hybrid performance in vivo is not known, we need to assess its performance in the field.

There is a need to store feral or wild seeds in a gene bank prior to Bt cotton introduction in case of undesired gene flow from Bt cotton to feral or wild cotton, because both feral and wild cotton are potential genetic resources that can be used in further cotton improvement.

The writer (Pictured below) is a postgraduate fellow with BiosafeTrain and is a student with the University of Dares-Salaam, Tanzania.

Significant Results Major findings were that the 1. Information on diversity, frequency and distribution of wild and or feral cotton in Tanzania is scanty and un-collated. www.africasciencenews.org 33

AFRICAN SCIENCE

continued from page 31 AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa, CAPRISA said the wisebag was found to be acceptable and its cell phone reminders useful.

The wisebag’s opening event data served as a useful measure of adherence, providing a more accurate measure of data of last use.

But it was found to under estimate overall applicator use due to occasional multiple applicator removals from a single opening.

More than twenty years after the start of the epidemic, HIV/AIDS remains one of the most important threats to health around the globe.

Sub-Saharan Africa is heavily affected by the epidemic with 25 million people currently infected and an estimated 3 million new infections every year.

A range of structural and personal level factors have been thought to contribute to the rapid spread of the epidemic in Africa.

Major structural factors include social, economic and healthcare development including reduction of poverty and gender-based violence.

Individual-level factors include sexual risk behaviours such as transactional sex, age of sexual debut, number of sexual partners, and low condom use.

Despite acknowledging the need for an HIV vaccine, progress has been slow for many resource-poor countries.

Of the phase I and II HIV vaccine trials that have taken place globally, most have been conducted in the United States (US) and Europe with only four phase I and II trials completed, or currently in progress in sub-Saharan Africa.

The first phase III HIV vaccine trials have recently been completed in North America and Thailand (AIDSVAX B/ B and AIDSVAX B/E, respectively; VaxGen Inc, Brisbane, CA, USA).

Thailand has also been the only developing country that has been part of a phase III trial, and has also had more phase I and II trials than any other developing country.

Phase III HIV vaccine trials to date have largely focused on sub-groups most at risk for HIV infection, such as commercial sex workers (CSW), intravenous drug-users (IDU), and men who have sex with men (MSM).

The AIDSVAX B/B trial (North America) recruited mainly MSM and the AIDSVAX B/E study (Thailand) focused on prevention against blood-borne infection in IDU. These trials therefore targeted specific populations known to be at high risk for HIV infection. In contrast, the epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa is most severe in heterosexual men and women who may not consider themselves to be at high risk for HIV infection and perceive obvious benefits to volunteering for phase III trials.

Sub-Saharan Africa is also characterised by great social, economic and political diversity, with high rates of migration, political unrest, a lack of sustained, stable infrastructure, and low literacy levels. In many respects these factors present a challenge to the conduct of phase III vaccine trials.

Moreover before the first phase III trials commenced a range of issues were discussed in the literature pertaining to both developed and less-developed countries.

While the AIDSVAX trials refuted many of these concerns they remain important in countries where trials have not taken place. Key issues addressed by these studies include: www.africasciencenews.org

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whether it will be possible to recruit and retain the large numbers of at-risk individuals over long time-periods as required for phase III trials, whether high-risk individuals from the general population be willing to enroll in these trials, and whether trial participation will result in an increase, rather than decrease in sexual behaviour due to a false sense of protection by the vaccine.

Researchers working in HIV vaccine trials describe these and related issues using the collective term social and behavioural issues.

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Halting the armyworm march

Ethiopian to head CTA Michael Hailu (pictured), an Ethiopian national took office as the new Director of the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) on 25 May 2010, replacing Dr Hansjörg Neun.

Hailu, who becomes the fifth CTA Director, has over 25 years of professional experience in Africa and Asia, in agriculture and environmental communications and knowledge management. ‘”It is indeed a great pleasure and privilege for me to head an organization that has done so much to support agricultural professionals in Africa, Caribbean and the Pacific in so many ways over the last 25 years,” said Hailu.

“I will build on CTA’s excellent reputation and rich network of partners to ensure that agricultural knowledge and innovation reach smallholder farmers so that they can improve their livelihoods and incomes,’’ he added.

Prior to joining CTA, Hailu was Director of Communications and member of the Senior Leadership Team of the World Agro-forestry Centre, also known as ICRAF, based in Nairobi, Kenya.

As Director of Communications, he was responsible for devising and implementing communications and outreach strategies, and oversaw capacity building, information and communication technology services and served as Secretary of the Governing Board.

From 1999-2007, Hailu lived and worked in Indonesia as Director of Information at the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), where he developed and implemented a communications strategy that has been instrumental in raising the media presence and profile of the institute significantly.

Hailu has played a key role in organizing high-profile conferences to promote awareness about forestry and agroforestry.

He was one of the main organizers of the first Forest Day event during the 2007 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia.

Forest Day has now become a regular and highly popular event of the climate COP featuring Nobel laureates, and former heads of states.

He also led the organization of the 2nd World Congress of Agroforestry in Nairobi in 2009, which attracted over 1200 participants from 97 countries.

Hailu has degrees in Information Sciences and Economics from the University of Pittsburgh in the United States and Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia.

He has also been trained in strategic leadership at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Researchers to Get Free Access to Journals A full-text, digital archive of journal articles published in Africa is now available at www.ajarchive.org. The African Journal Archive will make African research and cultural heritage published in Africa available free of charge to Africa-based and international researchers.

The Archive, funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York and managed by South Africa-based Sabinet, is a searchable, web-based collection of journal articles digitized back to the earliest issue, when available. The website currently comprises 150,000 pages of journal archives of academic, scholarly, institutional, museums, and professional research organizations in Africa.

Journals available through the Archive are digitized at no charge to the publisher. Participating publishers also receive a preservation copy of their archived journal volumes.

“For too long the exposure and visibility of research about Africa by Africans has been hampered by an inability to easily access it,” said Rosalind Hattingh, Managing Director, Sabinet Online.

“The iterative nature of research demands that researchers have access to seminal, peer-reviewed journals so that they can absorb, acknowledge, challenge and build upon ideas published in journals.”

Over the next three years, Sabinet’s goal is to digitize, index www.africasciencenews.org

and provide access to more than 200 journals consisting of a total of 90,000 indexed articles in the sciences, social sciences and humanities.

The Archive will emphasize collections in the fields of agriculture, botany, zoology, history, law, education, politics, medicine, geology, and interdisciplinary works will be developed.

Published material will be acquired from the journal archives of academic, scholarly, institutional, museums and professional research organizations throughout Africa will.

And coverage will be retrospective to at least ten years but, back to the earliest issue if possible.

Commenting on the Archive’s importance to a new generation of academics, Rookaya Bawa, Program Officer, Higher Education and Libraries in Africa at Carnegie Corporation said, “By offering free access to important peer-reviewed publications in the sciences, social sciences and humanities, the Archive is helping to nurture a rising generation of scholars who will contribute to the continued development of democracy and civil society on the African continent.”

Baya is a veteran librarian leader in her native South Africa.

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By Kimani Chege

They appear suddenly and before a farmer takes time to gauge the damage, his entire crop is wiped out. These devastating caterpillars known as the African armyworm are a major threat to crops in the grass family.

But those most affected by the armyworms, farmers--- are now teaming up with the scientists and taking up their armor for an ambush. Armed with a moth trap, a user manual and male moth-attracting hormone, the scientists are ready for the war. The method is to work in such a way that farmers know when they should check their fields. If they find the moths, they report immediately to officials of respective agricultural ministries. With most parts of the Sub Sahara Africa experiencing a decent rainfall this year, scientists are warning that these can provide conducive breeding conditions for these migratory pests.

Already, over 120, 000 farm families in Malawi reported destruction of 35,000 hectares of crop in January. Similar stories have also been reported in Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Uganda. But now scientists say using a farmer basedapproach, countries including Kenya, Ethiopia, Malawi,

Tanzania and Zimbabwe are determined to reduce the crop attacks. Scientists working in some of these African countries where the pest is endemic in a project coordinated by CAB International (CABI) a non-profit research organization, are determined to halt the armyworm march by using a two front approach; community armyworm forecasting and use of biological control using a natural occurring virus. Through the Research into Use Programme funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) the researchers are using science-based community armyworm forecasting technique.

The method works in such a way that farmers know when they should check their fields. If they find the young armyworms, they report immediately to officials of respective agricultural ministries. In order to determine the population of the armyworms, the researchers have equipped farmers with a rain gauge to monitor the amount of rainfall and a moth trap. Using factory enhanced female hormones commonly known as pheromones, the trap dupes the male of the presence of a female ready to mate.

The presence of male moths in the trap in an overnight continue page 38

Study estimates the malaria burden A study published in the open access journal PLoS Medicine concludes that there were 451 million clinical cases of Plasmodium falciparum malaria globally in 2007.

Most importantly it reveals that more than half of the estimated burden and its associated uncertainty was contributed by Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, India and Myanmar (Burma).

The research, conducted by the Malaria Atlas Project (MAP), a multinational team of researchers funded mainly by the Wellcome Trust, provides an evidencebased update on the burden posed by one the world’s most deadly parasites, Plasmodium falciparum, using a recently published map of modern-day malaria risk and more advanced statistical techniques that better describe uncertainty.

The research was led by Dr Simon Hay of the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford.

He says: “The uncertainty in our knowledge of the true malaria burden in a mere four countries confounds our ability to assess progress in relation to international development targets at the global level. It is clear that we urgently need an increased focus on reliably enumerating the clinical burden of malaria in these nations”.

Dr Hay continues: “The divergence in our estimates and those of the World Health Organization is greatest in Asia and acute in India. We have sought to explore on a country by country basis how these differences arise, the relative uncertainty in the alternative burden estimation approaches and the potential insights that could be gained by hybridising the two”. www.africasciencenews.org 37

Children display insecticide treated bed nets they have just received from a campaign against malaria. ITNs, in combination with other tools have been employed to lessen the malaria disease burden.

Prof Bob Snow, who leads the MAP group in Kenya, says that “Our estimates for P. falciparum malaria alone are almost twice those provided by the WHO, which include both P. falciparum and P. vivax malaria”.

He adds that “getting the numbers right is fundamental to reporting on success or otherwise of increased donor funding. A valid question remains about whether agencies charged with the responsibility of supporting the delivery of malaria interventions should be the same ones expected to report progress”.

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Armyworms swarm through a crop field in Africa

setting determines the level and risk of invasion. Armed with this knowledge, the farmer then reports to relevant authority and control mechanisms are activated.

According to Dr. Roger Day of CABI, the project has worked well because of the immense knowledge that is shared between farmers who are the real benefactors of any effort to counter armyworms. “Communitybased armyworm forecasting is a novel approach using technology already developed and validated in the field in earlier projects funded by DFID and the Ninth European Development Fund SADC-ICART programme and USAID. Adult armyworm populations are monitored using a trap baited with a synthetic version of female sex pheromone.

Because the monitoring is done locally farmers have more time to prepare for control or to seek help. One forecasting tool can cover one village,” said Dr. Day. The project piloted in Tanzania several years ago and eventually scaled up in other countries has also involved the training of farmers who in turn train others within set villages. Initially, the plan was to train at least 200 villages but according to Day, the project has exceeded expectation with Malawi and Tanzania alone exceeding the target.

Jon Knight, an economist from the Imperial College of London, the forecasting has been effective given the low costs involved. He says the initial cost of training the villages stood at 233 dollars per village with an additional four dollars being used to buy the trap which lasts for up to ten years and the pheromone costing two dollars per year. The cost has however been reduced through more cost effective training methods. Knight observes that the importance of such a forecasting casts a double benefit as farmers remain with the knowledge at a reasonable investment price and also researchers are able to learn best practices of interacting with the primary data producers who are farmers. They also learn and use innovative means to communicate with farmers especially using the ever growing mobile phone market in the region.

Kenya is leading in the community based forecasting and the overall fighting of the pest invasion. According to Gideon Ndambuki, Kenya’s agriculture assistant minister, www.africasciencenews.org

the government spent over Ksh 70 million in pesticide use on the migratory pest last year. He said the control initiatives which had affected 62 districts were successful and timely. About 30% of districts in Kenya and Tanzania are susceptible to armyworm – estimated to total around 2.1million households.

Joseph Ngetich, the deputy director of agriculture, Plant protection services division, Ministry of Agriculture, Kenya, the project has worked effectively especially in the primary outbreak areas in Machakos and Makueni districts where villages have informed other villages on the possibility of an invasion.

He says they plan to upscale the program to other areas of the country including upper Eastern province and coast province as well as awaiting the rolling out of a biological control method. The second phase of the project involves the establishment of a virus production system in Tanzania capable of producing sufficient material to treat at least 10,000 ha per annum, expanding to meet the regional need of 100,000 ha per annum.

Wilfred Mushobozi of the Arusha-based Eco-agri Consultancy which plans to set a virus harvesting and bio-pesticide plant notes that the potential of this method can be easily replicated across the continent. The process involves the use of Baculovirus, a natural occurring enemy of the armyworm caterpillar which kills it once ingested.

The virus whose only known target is the larva stage of the armyworm is known to kill up to 90 percent of an invasion.

Researchers are working on a way of ensuring efficient harvesting of the virus for mass production if a bio-pesticide is to be developed in case of an outbreak. Following example of a Brazilian model where scientists using a similar pest, the velvet bean worm, have been able to develop a 40 million tones collection of the Baculovirus which protects large tracks of farm in the country. According to Dr. Day, the use of the biological control method for the armyworm could add value to the community based forecasting as the authorities will be able to control an invasion using an environmentally sound means.

His comments are echoed by Moses Okhoba of the International red Locust control organization whose other mandate is equipping governments with information on the spread of red locust, quelea quelea birds as well as armyworms. Okhoba says that the control of these migratory pests requires quick and radical decision making and only works well when there are tools that will not leave a trail of damage rather than a solution.However, as the researchers work on this biological control, regulations within specific countries might slow or hinder its use.

Peter Opiyo of Kenya’s Pest Control Board says the pesticide will have to go through the normal registration process. Kenya is known to have a stringent licensing regime and Opiyo says the board will have to go through all the data provided before a decision is made. “The pesticide looks promising on paper, but we have to look and analyse the data and see the benefits it has to offer.” He says the formal presentation of the biocontrol regime is yet to be done by the project managers and he cannot promise an easy ride. He however calls for harmonization of pesticide regulations in the region so that a chemical approved for use in a single country in the region can be used in the other countries.

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