Unisa online - Higher education and malaria

Prof. Berhanu Abegaz presented a fascinating view of ‘Indigenous knowledge, culture and scientific research at African universities’ from the perspective of the phytochemist. Prof. Abegaz is a professor of Chemistry at the University of Botswana.

The seminar provided an overview of the historical landscape of higher education, and specifically in Africa. He differentiated between North Africa (with a different historical context), South Africa (special circumstances both in terms of history and resources) and the rest of Africa. He proceeded to examine the difference between developing an ‘African university’ as opposed to a ‘university in Africa’, pointing out that an African university has a key role to play in the developing countries in which they are situated.

Prof. Abegaz called for phytochemistry research at African universities to go the route of drug development based on Africa’s biogenetic resources, with specific references to the so-called ‘neglected diseases’ and malaria, pointing out that just over 1% of new drugs developed are for neglected diseases.