The following is a synthesis of the participants' efforts, summarizing and describing key issues that emerged from their presentations and throughout the weeks' deliberations. It includes several concrete action-steps recommended by the participants, which flow from these considerations.
Creating a Platform for Ongoing Dialogue and Advocacy
The course generated a great deal of enthusiasm and vigorous discussion, and there was consensus among the participants on the need to create a mechanism for capitalizing on this momentum. Course participants and faculty therefore established an e-mail-based network, the African Genome Policy Forum (AGPF), to allow the continued exchange of ideas and the building of consensus on issues related to genomics and public health policy. The group, composed of participants from areas of government, academia, civil society and the media, was created to bring to the table the views of their respective constituencies, and inform their peers of insights gained from the course and through the network. The network may also play an advocacy role in promoting the responsible use of genomics as a tool to improve health and promote development in Africa.
Concrete Action-Step 1: Establish a regional network to foster sustained inter-sectoral dialogue
On the final day of the course, it was decided that a regional network, the "African Genome Policy Forum", be established comprising all participants and session leaders; it was further agreed that the Joint Centre for Bioethics would set up a web-site, discussion board, and e-mail based platform to facilitate ongoing discussion and inter-sectoral debate on the issues and proposals raised during the course.
Mobilizing Political Support
The success of any major initiative requires sustained dialogue with politicians. It is important to take the time to address their legitimate concerns, by clarifying the specific relevance of genomics and its applicability within the context of their communities. A point of particular relevance is the link between technologies like genomics and Africa's development, which has been well described in a number of recent reports [e.g. [6, 10]]. Participants highlighted the importance of taking back to their colleagues in their respective countries and institutions the lessons drawn from the course; those participants in public office agreed to seize opportunities to raise some of issues and proposals of the course when attending relevant forums. In particular, the nascent New Partnership for Africa's Development, adopted in 2001 under the mandate of the Organisation of African Unity, was repeatedly pointed to as an opportunity to bring genomics and its relevance to health in Africa onto the political agenda. Science and technology is among NEPAD's seven priority areas; another is human development, which encompasses health [11]. Genomics provides a clear example of how these two areas – science and technology, and health – come together, and can serve as a model for considering how science and technology and health concerns can be better integrated to address the continent's economic and health needs.
Concrete Action-Step 2: Identify champions among politicians
The most efficient means of garnering political support is often to go directly to the politicians themselves – those who have been supportive or outspoken of the issues in question – to put the subject before their colleagues. The course itself represented an important step in this direction, as it brought together a spectrum of stakeholders, including academics, civil society, and government officials. The course, and the subsequently established network, therefore furnished an opportunity for direct communication and dialogue among individuals with a shared vision, including policymakers in a position to "champion" the issues and proposals that emerged from the course to their colleagues and others.
Concrete Action-Step 3: Use the New Plan for African Development (NEPAD) as entry point onto political agenda
NEPAD offers a possible forum to bring the subject of genomics-related biotechnology onto the political agenda, and provides a means of informing African leaders of genomics and its relevance to improving health and development in Africa. In particular, the AGPF recommends the establishment by NEPAD of an 'African Genomics Committee', which would provide a plan for utilizing genomics and other new technologies to enhance health in Africa, advocate for increased investment in S & T, target other relevant stakeholders in individual countries, educate policy makers about the need for a strong R&D base established through partnerships across Africa, and organize steering committees to identify gaps and implement strategies for improvement.
Prioritizing Needs
Participants agreed on the need to consider emerging technologies like genomics in light of Africa's specific health challenges, and consequently on the importance of prioritizing these and identifying strategic entry points. Infectious (including sexually transmitted) diseases, genetic and other non-communicable disorders, sanitation, nutrition, environmental pollution and loss of biodiversity were all proposed as areas requiring concerted attention, with a special emphasis on the potential for using genomics-related biotechnology to target the three biggest killers in Africa: malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. There are already well-known African-led initiatives to apply scientific innovation to combat important health concerns, such as the Multilateral Initiative on Malaria, and the African Malaria Vaccine Testing Network (AMVTN). It will be important to build on existing success stories, and to identify gaps in terms of priority health areas receiving inadequate attention. This will help to focus efforts and to more efficiently channel limited resource, both financial and human. A regional approach, which has since been adopted by NEPAD, was proposed as a promising mechanism for harnessing existing competence to address local needs.
Concrete Action-Step 4: Commission African capacity survey in genomics-related R&D to determine areas of strength
This survey would identify strategic areas of strength, such as existing centres of excellence, potential areas of improvement, and health priorities receive inadequate attention. It would also serve to identify local and national innovators, and to inform the structuring of Regional Centres of Excellence described below.
Capacity Building & Public Engagement
For several years, genomics has been linked with a number of high-profile, intensely controversial issues like human cloning and genetically modified organisms. While emerging technologies like genomics raise a number of important ethical and social issues that deserve careful consideration [12], a nuanced message takes account of the possibilities as well as the challenges of new approaches. Often, technological applications can complement existing, well-established health approaches [13]. Scientists, policy-makers, and the media have an important part to play in publicizing science, and pointing out its relevance to Africans in a moderate rather than hyperbolic tone [14]. Local leaders can have an important role to play, not only in reflecting the leading-edge opinions of their different constituencies to policymakers, but also by playing a role in raising awareness within their communities. A more informed public is often a more engaged public, which can effectively advocate for the development of policies that reflect legitimate concerns, while leaving space to explore promising avenues of scientific endeavour.
Public engagement was seen to form part of a long-term strategy for capacity building, and raising the overall profile of science and technology in Africa. The discussions reflected a conception of capacity strengthening as intimately linked with quality education – at all levels, and across disciplines. Core to this debate among course participants was the belief that endogenous capacity must be developed in order that Africa can begin to be self-sufficient, and itself become an innovator. Participants identified the following categories as needing attention:
Primary, secondary and tertiary education
There is a need to introduce innovative techniques to teach science and technology in the classroom, in order to generate interest and aptitude in the subject matter from an early stage in the educational process. Besides contemporary scientific approaches, indigenous knowledge and its applications to health could also be a relevant component to include in the curriculum.
Policymakers
Those in a position to shape policy should be familiarized with codes of ethics pertaining to their field; moreover, they should be educated about how best to capitalize on international frameworks (e.g. WTO's Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights; the UN's Convention on Biological Diversity) in order to ensure that their countries benefit from such arrangements, and are not exploited. Policy makers should develop strategies for negotiating their interests collectively in international forums, when appropriate, given shared needs and values.
Media
There is a general need to strengthen capacity in the area of communication, in particular on increasing the level of science literacy among the media. This might include integrating journalism and science programs at the college and university levels. There is a corresponding need to improve the ability of scientists to communicate the relevance of their work to the public, and to policy-makers.
ELSI
There is a great need to build capacity in Africa with regard to the ethical, legal and social issues (ELSI) which inevitably accompany the emergence of new technologies. Strategies would in many cases involve sensitizing the public to issues of relevance, such as their rights as patients and participants in research (e.g. informed consent, confidentiality of patient information), encouraging dialogue about the social consequences of introducing new technologies into traditional settings, and putting frameworks in place (e.g. ethics review boards) to ensure that ethical, quality and safety standards before research is undertaken.
Partnerships
Along with the need to strengthen the R&D base in science and technology, participants of the course identified a related need to increase the emphasis on commercialization – not only as a tool for sparking innovation but also to permit the generation of capital necessary to sustain the industry. An important step in the process of moving toward commercialization is the forming of alliances within countries, between universities and industry, sometimes known as "cross-linking". The fruitfulness of the Africa course, where people from across sectors and sub-regions came together with a common mission, re-enforced the value and the importance of establishing cross-sectoral networks and collaborations. Networks provide a means of generating new ideas, pooling the creative energies of individuals, and exchanging advice and expertise around a particular area of focus, in this case genomics and health policy. Such networks could play an advocacy role, combining the voices and the influence of key players from diverse disciplines and sectors, to advance a common aim. Collaborations, at the level of institutions – both within and between countries and regions – would facilitate the transfer of both knowledge and technology. During the course, it was pointed out that there is a particular need to encourage linkages between universities and industry to, among other things, facilitate the move from research and development to product generation and commercialization. This could include mechanisms to facilitate relationships between universities undertaking research in biotechnology and local industries. Institutional partnerships and collaborations at all levels, including internationally, can mean the channelling of resources to common areas of focus, and pooling the relative strengths and resources of partner institutions [15]. Such collaborations require very clearly defined roles for partners, and transparency with respect to goals, prioritization of needs, funding, and mechanisms to ensure equitable access to products.
Creating sustainable financing mechanisms
Ensuring that the benefits of science and technology, including emerging fields like genomics, requires a long-term strategy for sustained investment.
Concrete Action-Step 5: Design proposals for obtaining sustained investment for both research and development (R&D) in genomics and related biotechnologies to improve health, and the commercialization of the products of R&D
Three models were suggested
The establishment of an African Science and Technology Fund, dedicated to supporting research and development in the area of health-related biotechnology, would rely upon the contribution of African governments.
The establishment of an Investment Fund for genome-related biotechnologies for improving health would represent an innovative approach to obtaining capital, providing a further incentive for investors to put money into development by creating a fund that provides a return on investment, as well as furnishing funds for advancement. Such a fund might be dedicated to providing capital for the development of mature, or future, health-related technologies.
Capitalizing on existing funds allocated for research related to diseases afflicting Africa, such as the WHO's Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Genomics and biotechnology represents a powerful set of tools for health improvement, and the World Health Organization through its Genomics and World Health (2002) report has raised it as an important issue deserving international attention. It is important to use this positive emphasis to give weight to the case for the relevance of biotechnology to health in developing countries, particularly for policy makers.
Research and Development (R&D)
With respect to R&D, there are already areas of strength on the continent; it is crucial to identify localized expertise, and to establish linkages with centres elsewhere in the region, as well as abroad, to ensure the transfer of knowledge and of technology, and to facilitate human resource development. Infrastructure must be developed to attract qualified African researchers to remain in or to return to Africa – both to support them, technically, intellectually, and socially and to provide them with similar opportunities for creativity and growth as may be found in other locales. The Biosciences Facility, established in 2003 by NEPAD, takes up this challenge, promoting "scientific excellence by bringing together a critical mass of scientists drawn from national, regional and international institutions in state-of-the-art facilities where they can undertake cutting-edge research to help solve the most important development constraints faced by the poor in Africa" [9]. While the new Biosciences Facility is the first of network of centres of excellent focused primarily on using science to help poor farmers, it may be an appropriate model for like initiatives using a regional approach for targeting health challenges.
Concrete Action-Step 6: Undertake a detailed study of R&D models with demonstrated success in the developing world, i.e. China, India, Cuba, Brazil
Developing countries in various parts of the world have proven that they too can have strong technology sectors, and make important contributions in terms of science and innovation. Their successes represent an opportunity to bring to the attention of politicians that there are countries succeeding in genomics. A detailed study of these models can provide important insights into how Africa can capitalize on the promise of genomics and biotechnology, particularly as it relates to health. In 2003, the Joint Centre for Bioethics completed a qualitative study of R&D in biotechnology in South Africa; similar studies are underway in Cuba, Egypt and China. Research of this kind could feed into more systematic efforts in the region to better understand how some developing countries, including those in Africa, have managed to develop S&T research and manufacturing capacity in the health sector.
Concrete Action-Step 7: Establish Seven Regional Research Centres of Excellence
The proposed centres would be distributed across Northern, Southern, Eastern, Western and Central African sub-regions. Each centre would have its own area of focus, in terms of targeted health problems, depending on regional expertise. The Centres would not be the sole preserve of each region, but would in fact use the strengths and specializations of each region to achieve the goal of harnessing genomics to improve health in Africa. These regional centres of excellence need not preclude the existence of national centres of excellence. The Biosciences Facility is modelled on such an approach.