Molecular genetics research in sub-Saharan Africa: how can the international community help?

The legal nature of international law is uncertain, despite being the foundation of the international community. Its non-universality questions the cohesion and efficacy of the international community. The international community operates as an exclusive club, coalescing around certain shared values, like liberal democracy and free market economy. Sub-Saharan Africa is usually excluded from being an active part of the international community due to differing values; a shared understanding of community which conflicts with the shared values of the core of the international community. Furthermore, their post-colonial nature deters African states from choosing their own path or adopting the norms of the ‘international community.’ A paradigmatic shift in research into sub-Saharan Africa and the international community is necessary to ensure a truly effective international community and wider observance of international law.

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Volatility and Vulnerability

The Oxford Handbook of Africa and Economics ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199687114.013.7 ◽

2014 ◽

pp. 566-583

Author(s):

Xubei Luo

Keyword(s):

Low Income ◽

Ad Hoc ◽

Government Expenditure ◽

Planning Horizon ◽

International Community ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Production Scale ◽

Indigenous Development ◽

High Volatility ◽

Sub Saharan

Volatility and vulnerability has long been key challenges for the economies in sub-Saharan Africa. The unique challenges, besides being low-income, the continent faces - harsh and changing climate, heavy dependence on natural resources, and fragmented market and social fabrics - translate into high volatility and high vulnerability through various channels, from volatile government expenditure, to short planning horizon and distortive tax policy, to small production scale and lack of indigenous development, and to deprived human capital. National governments and the international community have crucial roles to play in reducing volatility and vulnerability and set economies onto a path to a higher equilibrium. This requires the governments to shift from ad hoc response to shocks to systematic risk management to provide a stable and enabling environment; and to support the economy to move towards the latent comparative advantages. It also requires the international community to use aid smartly.

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Transparency in Resource Governance: The Pitfalls and Potential of “New Oil” in Sub-Saharan Africa

Global Environmental Politics ◽

10.1162/glep_a_00213 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 20-39 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

James Van Alstine

Keyword(s):

International Community ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Extractive Industries ◽

Governance Mechanisms ◽

Extractive Industry ◽

Resource Governance ◽

The Past ◽

Transformative Potential ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Multi Stakeholder

An international agenda has evolved over the past decade to establish hard and soft rules to govern the impacts of the extractive industries. The international community and some resource-rich states have increasingly embraced norms such as transparency in resource governance. This paper explores how multi-stakeholder initiatives such as the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) and the Publish What You Pay (PWYP) campaign have sought to institutionalize transparency in resource governance. By exploring how, why, and to what effect transparency in resource governance has taken hold in a new petro-economy such as Ghana, I highlight two key findings: the interaction between voluntary and mandatory governance mechanisms and rescaling of authority, and the multi-scalar dimensions of resource governance and subsequent lack of focus on sub-national issues. In concluding, I question the transformative potential of transparency in resource governance, which has significant global implications as the demand for energy and non-energy minerals continues to rise.

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The International Role in the Response to the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa Following Violent Conflicts

Flux: International Relations Review ◽

10.26443/firr.v10i1.26 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 ◽

Author(s):

Evelyne Goulet ◽

Jillian Horowitz ◽

Jordana Schiff

Keyword(s):

Local Governments ◽

International Community ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Aids Epidemic ◽

Aids Crisis ◽

Global Health Issue ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

International Role ◽

Violent Conflicts ◽

Hiv Aids

HIV/AIDS has been a global health issue for decades, one which has often been accelerated by genocide and civil war. This paper analyzes the effectiveness of the international community in dealing with the growth of the HIV/AIDS crisis following a period of violence, by focusing on three different case studies: Uganda, Sierra Leone, and Rwanda. It concludes that the most effective and successful help from the international community against HIV/AIDS is comprised of financial, technical, and structural aid to counter the crisis, and includes collaboration with local governments. However, the international community faces shortcomings if the help it provides is only financial.

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Fundamentals of Sustainable Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Focus on Water Policy in Nigeria

International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences ◽

10.18052/www.scipress.com/ilshs.65.143 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 65 ◽

pp. 143-151

Author(s):

Remi Chukwudi Okeke

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Social Science ◽

Water Policy ◽

International Community ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

African Region ◽

Water Policies ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Critical Components ◽

Private Investors

Development and its sustainability have undeviatingly remained critical components of social science investigation. Sub-Saharan Africa has also continued to elicit mainstream investigative attention. There is apparently, acute bewilderment on what has become the fate of development in this region of the international community. Findings of this study indeed validate a hypothesis of gargantuan developmental challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa. Consequently, policy ambivalences on water are indicative of the difficulties of sustainable development in the African region. It is concluded in this study that the availability of sound water policies and the spirited implementation of such policies can change the atmosphere of weariness in this African area. To engender the requisite sustainable development therefore requires that the composite governments (and other private investors) in Sub-Saharan Africa should embark on massive and functional water schemes, borne of credible water policies. The Nigerian state is strategically placed by naturally hued opportunities to take the lead in this regard.

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RTS,S/AS01, a vaccine targeting pre-erythrocytic stages of Plasmodium falciparum

Emerging Topics in Life Sciences ◽

10.1042/etls20170101 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 1 (6) ◽

pp. 533-537

Author(s):

Lorenz von Seidlein ◽

Borimas Hanboonkunupakarn ◽

Podjanee Jittmala ◽

Sasithon Pukrittayakamee

Keyword(s):

Protective Efficacy ◽

Age Groups ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Phase Iii ◽

European Medicines Agency ◽

Older Children ◽

Pivotal Phase ◽

Malaria Epidemiology ◽

Maximum Benefit ◽

Sub Saharan

RTS,S/AS01 is the most advanced vaccine to prevent malaria. It is safe and moderately effective. A large pivotal phase III trial in over 15 000 young children in sub-Saharan Africa completed in 2014 showed that the vaccine could protect around one-third of children (aged 5–17 months) and one-fourth of infants (aged 6–12 weeks) from uncomplicated falciparum malaria. The European Medicines Agency approved licensing and programmatic roll-out of the RTSS vaccine in malaria endemic countries in sub-Saharan Africa. WHO is planning further studies in a large Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme, in more than 400 000 young African children. With the changing malaria epidemiology in Africa resulting in older children at risk, alternative modes of employment are under evaluation, for example the use of RTS,S/AS01 in older children as part of seasonal malaria prophylaxis. Another strategy is combining mass drug administrations with mass vaccine campaigns for all age groups in regional malaria elimination campaigns. A phase II trial is ongoing to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of the RTSS in combination with antimalarial drugs in Thailand. Such novel approaches aim to extract the maximum benefit from the well-documented, short-lasting protective efficacy of RTS,S/AS01.

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