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7 continents and science-Africa

Science in Africa

I was thinking hard about what should be the next article and an idea occurred to me which hopefully our readers will like as well. I would like to do a series of articles on 7 continents and their contribution to science and/ or an update on the latest technology used to improve lives. This first article will start with Africa. This is the second largest continent in the world both in population and landmass and comprises 48 countries and 6 islands. It contains 14% of the world’s population. An assessment done by researchers in South Africa showed that from a period of 2000-2004 Africa produced 1.8% of the world’s scientific publications and most of these scientific findings came from mainly 2 countries South Africa and Egypt. Approximately 1000 of the world’s inventions comes from Africa. 

3D printed bones: Dr. Mashudu Tshifularo‘s team was the first in the world to use 3D printed middle ear bone for reconstructive surgery. 

Illustration of Agroforestry

Agroforestry strategies: This is a method of integrating a mixture of trees and shrubs with agricultural  or animal farming to hence soil health and to increase productivity. Some farmers in the drylands of eastern Kenya have adapted this new strategy and reaping the benefits which has also given degraded land a new lease of life.  

Locust

Locust harvesting: 2020 saw another catastrophic event in many parts of Africa which unfortunately didn’t get enough media coverage. Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Somalia, India, Pakistan and a few other countries encountered locust plague which destroyed crops. It is estimated that another plague such as this could result in food shortages in a population of 5-25 million people. Kenyan farmers have come up with a novel way of combating these infestations. They collect these locusts which are then crushed and converted into animal feed or fertilizers. 

Smart Jacket: Engineers in Uganda have designed a smart jacket to diagnose pneumonia by capturing information about breathing pattern, body temperature and breathing rate and sending it to a mobile app to ascertain quickly if the patient is suffering from disease or not. 

Covid-19 related: Africa saw a surge in new inventions due to Covid-19 pandemic. The list includes Doctor car robot, automatic hand-washing machine, portable ventilators, web based x-ra lung scans to name a few. 

Apart from these new developments coming out of Africa, I would also like to recognize the women scientists from Africa who have contributed to a  wide variety of important topics which have seen it’s impact around the world.

Wangari Muta Maathai: First female recipient from Africa to win the Nobel Peace Prize started the Green belt movement which has resulted in 30 million trees planted.

Quarraisha Abdool Karim: Epidemiologist whose discoveries led to better treatment for HIV/AIDS in South Africa and most importantly helped women become self-reliant about risk prevention.

Francisca Nneka Okeke: A professor of Physics from Nigeria is known for her in-depth understanding of contributing factors to climate change.

Jamila Abass: A software developer from Kenya has developed a software which helps small farm holders with vital market information via SMS.

Even though I haven’t added all the 10 top contributors here, the link above will give you the details for all of them. I have only been able to scratch the surface of all the amazing development in science and technology that is happening in Africa in spite of its challenges with limited infrastructure. However, my hope is that it will give our readers a new perspective about this continent and other continents in the coming weeks of all the positive progress that we are also making together.

Royalty free images were used for this article.

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