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[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[naturenews]
Published online 2 September 2009 | Nature 461, 20-21 (2009) | doi:10.1038/461020a
News
Pandemic flu: from the front lines
Researchers describe the scientific and public-health challenges they face in battling the H1N1 virus.

CONTINUED FROM newsnn1

India — Population 1.1 billion

The virus is now transmitting in city clusters. Large numbers of people are turning up at designated testing facilities, swamping an already stretched surveillance system, so there is little room for monitoring mutations and reassortment. This should be done. One way would be to bring in academic labs outside of the government testing system, but sharing of clinical materials and trust is low.

Deaths have sparked a fair amount of concern and panic. Poor communication of risks by the government and the public-health system is largely to blame.

Even if this pandemic remains moderate, the impact in India is likely to be severe, owing to its high population density, low awareness of the pandemic and the propensity of the virus to infect the young (50% of Indians are under 25 years of age). Moreover, there is a high load of other infectious diseases as well as chronic conditions, groups that are at higher risks of severe forms of pandemic H1N1 disease. The health-care infrastructure is poor.

Despite this bleak outlook, India has strengths for tackling the virus, including that the government has pandemic plans in hand, and that we have a vibrant generic-pharmaceutical industry as well as a decent capacity for manufacturing vaccines. There is little clarity, however, as to India's vaccine plans, and the regulatory process is archaic, so it is not even clear whether pandemic vaccine could be rapidly approved for use in the country. The government says it has enough Tamiflu for 3 million people.

Shahid Jameel, head of the virology group at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in New Delhi

Sub-Saharan Africa — Population 800 million

H1N1 has not yet been reported in Nigeria, or any of the other sub-Saharan African countries with which we collaborate — Niger, Burkina Faso or the Central African Republic, although the Democratic Republic of Congo has one confirmed case. But surveillance is still very poor, and the virus may well often escape detection. International media attention to the pandemic is probably more than it deserves from an African public health point of view. Any diversion of resources from other important programmes needs to be carefully evaluated for long-term cost-benefit and sustainability.

Systems for lab surveillance and reporting of respiratory illnesses have improved since H5N1, which has hit nine sub-Saharan African countries since it first spread to the continent in 2006. With international support Nigeria, for example, has set up a central national laboratory for human influenza surveillance in Abuja, as well as several decentralized satellite labs.

There is no culture of testing for respiratory viruses, however, and the effort that went into H5N1 control is losing steam. The H5N1 virus was perceived as a major threat to the poultry industry, whereas the disease burden of pandemic flu seems low. Don't expect much mobilization for a virus where most cases are mild.


[naturenews]
Published online 2 September 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.877
News: Q&A
Forging a future for South African science
The country's science minister talks about her priorities in lean times.
Linda Nordling

Naledi Pandor became South Africa's second post-apartheid science minister in May. A holder of a Master's degree in linguistics and a former lecturer for the University of Cape Town's Academic Support Programme, she has served as a member of parliament since the country's first democratic elections in 1994 and as education minister from 2004 to 2009. Pandor speaks to Nature about her plans.

Your department is set to release detailed science and innovation statistics for 2007-08 in a few weeks' time. Has South Africa reached its goal of spending 1% of gross domestic product on research and development?

We think we have met the target. But 1% is not sufficient. Singapore spends close to 3%. I'm committed to continuing the upward trend in the government science budget, although the current economic circumstances make it unclear whether we can expect more than the baseline increases that have already been agreed [the science and technology department's budget for 2009–10 is 4.2 billion rand (US$532 million), increasing to 4.7 billion in 2010–11 and 5.1 billion in 2011–12]. Also, the private sector is investing a lot but I think they could do more.

Not all of South Africa's research councils fall under your remit. For example, the Medical Research Council comes under the Department of Health. Is this satisfactory?

I don't have enough in-depth knowledge yet to be able to say how this should change. What I do know is that at the moment we are not coordinating sufficiently. I am convening a meeting of all ministers who have research councils in their portfolios to discuss this. One idea is to establish a national advisory body to oversee the councils.

On a related point, the government has been criticized for not using science advice in policy-making. Do you see a need for a chief scientific adviser?

At the moment science advice is obtained from ministers and via reports from the science councils. I don't know what the president would say about having a chief scientist, but I have told the deputy president that I want to establish a science working group consisting of the president and relevant ministers. We don't have one on science and technology, and I think we should.

I also think that we need to speak to our top-rated scientists. We need to get them around the table. I'm thinking of gathering six to eight scientists to meet with me on a regular basis to offer advice. I've already got some names in mind.

South African science is still mainly concentrated in elite, 'formerly white' universities. What are you doing to change this?

At the moment there are 6 universities that perform very well and 17 that need encouragement and support. We are encouraging those in the second group, who lack academic staff and infrastructure, to develop research in niche areas where they can make a name for themselves and attract senior scientists. For example, in the area of materials research we are working with the University of Limpopo, since that part of the country has a huge platinum-mining potential.

University researchers in South Africa complain about poor pay, and most have stories of their students being lured away to industry jobs with starting salaries that exceed their own. As a former academic, do you understand where they are coming from?

Absolutely. While we have improved funding for capital infrastructure in higher education and financial aid for students, I think the academics — professors, senior lecturers and junior lecturers — are really lagging behind. As education minister I signalled that academic pay was one of the budget priorities we needed to address in the current financial year or the next one. This now falls under my colleague's remit [Blade Nzimande, the higher-education minister]. I don't know what his plans are, but I'm sure that his officials have told him that I thought this needed more emphasis.

Does South Africa have a responsibility to help the rest of the African continent boost its science capacity?

We absolutely have a responsibility to do this and we're doing it. But I think we need to be careful about it being a sort of colonial assistance where everybody has to come here. I think we should empower institutions in other countries to develop their own capacity.

Assuming you stay in this post until the next general election, what do you hope to achieve?

In five years' time I hope that innovation will be a huge part of what scientists are doing, and that our universities will be modern. I also hope research will be recognized as a rewarding career and that we will have forged strong international links.