Actions for sustainable development in Africa

Awareness, biomanufacturing, diagnostics, genome surveillance, biomanufacturing, outreach: current actions for sustainable development in Africa.

August 2024: Lawrence Banks and Lara Donaldson (Plant Systems Biology Group Leader) were in Windhoek, Namibia for an ICGEB Awareness workshop. Attended by Deputy Executive Director of the Ministry of Higher Education Technology and Innovation, Lisho Mundia, the event was hailed as important for information dissemination to stakeholders who can best benefit from membership.

At the BIOAfrica Convention in Durban - the largest biotech stakeholder event of the year dedicated to advancing biotech innovation on the Continent - Dr. Banks took part in the opening plenary session with the South African Minister of Science, and a panel session on local biomanufacturing workforce development and training initiatives, together with Drs. Natasa Skoko and Jenny Molloy, who ran workshops on Biological Medicine and Biomanufacturing to address practical ways to address global health challenges and local manufacturing capabilities.

Concurrently, the latest results of the Expandia and Covid+ projects were being aired as testimony to the ongoing work across African countries in diagnostics, genome surveillance, and manufacturing for pandemic preparedness.

The B_INOC project: Bioinoculants to address food security in Africa funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, commenced with Postdoctoral and SMART Mobility Fellowship calls open to scientists in Chad, Ghana,Guinea (Guinea-Conakry), Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Somalia, and Uganda - as well as all ICGEB Member States.

ICGEB's actions for the Africa agenda are also expanding through projects on plant-associated bacteria and sustainable agriculture headed by Dr. Vittorio Venturi, consolidating his presence in Morocco.

Coming up, from 9-11 September, the ICGEB Human Papillomavirus (HPV) related cancers meeting will take place in Harare, Zimbabwe to provide up-to-date data on HPV-related cancers including biology, epidemiology, and laboratory diagnosis. The workshop will address research gaps and suggest prevention and screening interventions suited for resource-limited settings, as well as networking opportunities between scientists in Zimbabwe and neighboring ICGEB Member States, the USA and Europe.

Integral to the research activities of the Organisation, funding for fellowships for Women in Africa and Outreach activities in STEM are also intensifying.

Drs. Natasa Skoko (L) & Jenny Molloy (R) held biological medicine and biomanufacturing workshops for the BIO Africa Academy ProgrammeDr. Banks presents the ICGEB Award on Biotechnology for Bioeconomy - BFB at the 2024 NACOSTI STIR Olympiad Awards for High School Teams , Kenya, May 2024.

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