7 the state of science in south africa
H E A L T H A N D M E D I C A L S C I E N C E S
ment of a National AIDS Research Pro- CSIR, Foundation for Research Develop-
gramme, almost a decade after the first ment (FRD)), higher education institutions
patients were reported in the country. In- (universities and technikons
2
) and non-gov-
terestingly, it was AIDS research that estab- ernment organisations, and to ensure that
lished a ‘breakthrough in international rela- the whole spectrum of research would be
tions’ through a visit of a delegation from carried out. The new system envisaged that
the US Centres for Disease Control in 1991. ‘basic’ research would be conducted mainly
The largest longitudinal study in Africa, the in the higher education sector, while epi-
Birth-to-Ten study, launched in 1990, exam- demiological and community-oriented re-
ined the relationship between social, eco- search would be conducted by the MRC
nomic and environmental factors and child and its associates. The MRC, consonant with
health over a decade. Studies on causes of the activities of the South African govern-
infant death, adolescent death and risk-tak- ment, established contact with the African
ing behaviour in teenagers, diabetes preva- National Congress
3
and hosted its Secre-
lence in urban populations and trauma in tary for Health, amongst other internal or-
urban areas were conducted from 1991 on- ganisations - thus marking a dramatic shift
wards. Environmental research focused on in policy.
air pollution in the Vaal Triangle
1
, respira-
tory tract illnesses in smoking households, In the same year the MRC’s National AIDS
indoor air pollution, childhood lead expo- Research Programme mounted a series of
sure and the use of environmental health studies which ranged from improving di-
services by urban populations. agnostic methods to developing strategies
to encourage reductions in risk behaviour.
The new legislation, the South African Med- (The dire predictions made by scientists in
ical Research Council Act, Act 58 of 1991, 1991 would come to pass some years later).
changed the way in which the MRC was The year 1991 was also the year in which
governed. For the first time the board was a major initiative in malaria research, in-
chaired by an independent chairperson, volving a number of countries in southern
and it immediately identified tuberculo- Africa (Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe,
sis, malaria, nutrition intervention, trauma, Swaziland, Namibia and South Africa),
AIDS and urbanisation as research priorities. was planned. It was to become one of the
The MRC introduced a system of national most significant international contributions
programmes in these priority areas in or- made by South African scientists. Research
der to facilitate the networking of research into rapid methods of tuberculosis diagno-
and researchers across science councils sis led to the MRC’s Centre for Molecular
(Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), and Cellular Biology at Stellenbosch Univer-
1 A heavily industrialised and urban area situated to the south of Johannesburg.
2 Technikons are tertiary education institutions which focus on technical instruction. They are now referred to as universities of technology.
3 The African National Congress (ANC), South Africa’s present-day ruling political party, was for decades declared an illegal organisation
by the apartheid government.
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