Scientists have two jobs: capacitating fellow scientists, and educating the general public and those in power, said prof Tulio de Oliveira, director of the Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation (CERI) at Stellenbosch University (SU) in an interview with SMF News.
CERI hosted a public lecture that took place at the Jan Mouton Learning Centre at SU on 23 August and formed part of the 27th International Bioinformatics and Virus Evolution and Molecular Epidemiology (VEME) Workshop, according to De Oliveira.
“These types of events are needed to inform younger researchers and society about infectious diseases,” said Francine Sado, a PhD candidate at the Centre for Research in Infectious Diseases in Cameroon, in an interview with SMF News.
The Virus Evolution and Molecular Epidemiology Workshop has a programme where they offer fellowships to 403 African scientists, said prof Tulio de Oliveira, director of the centre for epidemic response and innovation at Stellenbosch University (pictured above). The fellows travel to South Africa for periods ranging from between a month, and three years to learn how to fight epidemics using data analysis, according to De Oliveira. PHOTO: Amy Cloete
Capacitating Africa
There are many viruses emerging from Africa, and scientists need to be able to fight against them, stated Sado.
Pandemics generally emerge from places with high population density and environmental degradation, such as the Global South, said De Oliveira.
It is necessary to have expertise in locations that are likely to experience the next epidemic, “so we avoid an outbreak becoming an epidemic, and an epidemic becoming a pandemic”, said De Oliveira.
Capacitating African scientists involves sharing data and expertise from wealthier countries, who have the financial means and resources to do more research, said Dr Kim Martin, postdoctoral fellow at the department of forestry and wood science at SU, in an interview with SMF News.
There is a lot of goodwill towards the Global South from the Global North, which can help facilitate this process, said Martin.
The first International Bioinformatics and Virus Evolution and Molecular Epidemiology (VEME) Workshop was held in Belgium in 1995, said prof Tulio de Oliveira, director of the Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation (CERI) at Stellenbosch University (SU). The 27th VEME Workshop was recently hosted by CERI in Stellenbosch. PHOTO: Amy Cloete
Informing the public
Scientists need to inform and capacitate politicians about safeguarding nations from pandemics and epidemics, avoiding “knee-jerk” responses that worsen risks, explained De Oliveira.
The public and politicians need to be informed about the importance of scientific discoveries, so countries can avoid backlash similar to what the discovery of the Omicron Coronavirus variant, in South Africa, caused in 2021, said De Oliveira.
A public lecture that formed part of the 27th International Bioinformatics and Virus Evolution and Molecular Epidemiology Workshop was held at Stellenbosch University (SU) and was facilitated by prof Tulio de Oliveira (pictured above), director of the Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation (CERI) at SU. Prof Edward Holmes from the University of Sydney, and prof Marion Koopmans from the Erasmus Medical Centre in the Netherlands were the two keynote speakers at the event. PHOTO: Amy Cloete