Rebuilding Africa with science
As the RSC launches the first African hub of its Pan Africa Chemistry Network, Victoria Gill finds out how science can provide real solutions for the continent
At the University of Nairobi in Kenya, resources for scientific research and teaching are very limited. Students have no access to the high-tech equipment that some of the developed world’s universities rely upon - there are no gas chromatographs and no mass spectrometers. One chemistry professor jokes that some of the students complete their degrees having never held a test tube. These basic laboratories are emblematic of a much deeper problem. The most enthusiastic students share a common ambition to leave the country and pursue their careers in the developed north. That’s where the opportunities and the facilities are.