Funders of African Health Research Exclude Africans - Scientists

A group of African scientists has called on the funders of Africa-focussed health interventions to change their approach and make sure that African scientists are not excluded from scientific research, and Africans from healthcare decisions, writes James Stent for GroundUp. According to the authors of a letter published in leading scientific journal Nature Medicine - and directed towards the major international funders of science and development in Africa - "the predominant global health architecture and its business model enable western institutions to gain more than, and sometimes at the expense of, the people and institutions in the countries where the actual problems are."

The authors added: "International funding ... has substantially advanced the goal of improving people's health and wellbeing in Africa and beyond. However, funding models such as that of the PATH-led initiative are among the reasons that after several decades and billions of dollars spent, the control of diseases such as malaria is still heavily donor-dependent."