Budget for African research choked

  1. Posted on Monday 18 July 2011 - 13:25
    Sam Banda Junior
    Image of Sam Banda Junior
    Sam Banda Jnr, AfricaNews correspondent reporting from the IAS conference in Italy
    There are little investments from African governments in terms of supporting research projects, International Aids Society (IAS 2011) chairman and president Elly Katabira has said. "Of course research done in Africa should be led by Africans but this all comes down to the issue of funding. African governments invest very little on research and the budget line for research is choking," said Katabira.
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    Katabira, who is a Professor of Medicine and former Deputy Dean for Research, Faculty of Medicine at Makerere University, Kampala, was speaking at the official opening of the sixth IAS conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention in Rome, Italy.

    He cited his own country Uganda, saying little has been done in terms of funding and that the government has never committed more resources in research programmes.

    “It’s a pity and yet they say when you want to be promoted you need to do more research and how are you going to do that when there is no money? You are also talking about people not being there to do research,” said Katabira.

    Scientist Stefano Vella, who is also local co-chair for IAS 201, stressed that the biggest problem was funding and that other African researchers have failed to make progress because of visa problems.

    “Visa is another problem but as scientists we will see what we can do on that. I should, however, also say that there have been some research projects coordinated by Africans though not enough,” said Vella.

    Katabira noted that there was need for a lot of commitment by African leaders to inject more money for research projects.

    Katabira trained as a medical doctor at Makerere University and later trained as a physician, specializing in Neurology at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom.

    Since his return to Uganda in 1985, he has worked extensively in the field of care and support for people living with HIV/Aids. He is the Clinical Advisor at the Aids Clinic in Mulago Hospital and at the Infectious Diseases Institute of Makerere University College of Health Sciences.

    In 1990, he was recognized as a World Aids Foundation International Scholar and he is the author of more than 200 published scientific articles and abstracts.

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