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Date : 23/05/2003
Source: Ministry of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology
Title: Ngubane: Medunsa graduation ceremony


KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY THE MINISTER OF ARTS, CULTURE, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, DR BEN NGUBANE, AT THE MEDUNSA GRADUATION CEREMONY, Medunsa, 23 May 2003

The Vice Chancellor
Members of Council and Senate,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Fellow Graduates and students

I feel very privileged to receive the honour that is being bestowed on me today, as we approach ten years of freedom and democracy and it is my privilege to highlight our achievements over this time. Our government reflects regularly on our contribution. Although Arts, Culture, Science and Technology have constituted my portfolio, I will focus mainly on medical and health issues today. I am doing this recognising that the graduates here today will make their contributions in these fields. I congratulate you all and wish you well.

Those of us from the medical fraternity should develop our future vision always informed by our current challenges and mindful of the distortions created by apartheid. Where are we in medicine now and what are our expectations of the new era?

If I had said 25 years ago, that in the first few years of the 21st century, a climber older than 65 years old would summit Mount Everest, the idea would have sounded absurd. But, today mountaineers are so sure it will happen that they speculate about who it will be, and not if it will happen!

The image of an exultant senior citizen atop the highest peak in the world depicts the changing perceptions of age and life expectancy in developed societies. These new expectations represent a major transformative force in future medical care. The advances in medical technology with accompanying changes in treatment modalities, such as the prospect of gene-replacement therapy will require an entire paradigm shift from our present concepts of medicine and health care.

As South Africans, we are at the crossroads since some of our best researchers are involved in cutting edge research that is globally competitive, and yet the issue of diseases related to poverty are overwhelming and must be addressed. This is combined with the urgent need to develop our youth into health care givers and visionary innovative researchers of the future.

This need for human capital development is captured as being a fundamental pillar to the success of the National R&D Strategy which Cabinet adopted last year. It is essential that for human resource development to flourish a sustainable strategy require us to create and nurture Centres and Networks of Excellence. South Africa plays a leading role in NEPAD and the establishment of such Centres of Networks of Excellence are part of the objectives to achieving the goal of an African Renaissance. The investment in developing these continental research networks are critical to developing medical education and training that is relevant to Africa's disease burden and that remain globally of the highest calibre.

A week ago, as a result of joint strategic planning between the European Union and the African Caribbean and Pacific countries, which I was privileged to lead, 50 million Euro was secured to develop such centres of excellence.

A key programme initiative that was initiated by the Department of Science and Technology with the Department of Health and Eskom was the establishment of the South Africa AIDS Vaccine Initiative (SAAVI) in 1999. It was mandated to develop and test an appropriate HIV vaccine for Southern Africa. This initiative has grown from a small core group of researchers into a large biotechnology consortium involving approximately 180 people who work on various aspects of developing and testing novel HIV vaccines. Thus, the positive spin offs are multiple - i.e. the development of significant human capital in biotechnology and the development of novel techniques that can be transferred to other applications. It is anticipated that the first home-developed HIV vaccines will enter human clinical trials in 2004.

Biotechnology, which is one of the key technology platforms of the National R&D Strategy forms the major thrust of cutting edge science at the ARC. For example, The Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute, one of our premier science councils not far from here, is involved in the development of specific Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) based diagnostic assays to improve the accuracy of detection of animal diseases such as Newcastle Disease in ostriches to ensure that ostrich meat conforms to EU regulations for importation. This in turn demonstrates how technology benefits our trade balance. Similarly, the development of a recombinant fowl-pox vaccine has been effective in eliciting protective immunity in chickens, which has direct economic outcomes on both farmers and consumers of poultry.

Among other areas of exciting and innovative research in health sciences in South Africa include an MRC project using bone morphogenetic proteins to grow new bone faster by using the same mechanisms as the body itself uses in an enhanced manner.

The scourge of TB in Southern Africa is mounting due to the combined ravages of poverty and HIV/AIDS but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. An MRC project in partnership with the United States National Institutes of Health has yielded the discovery of the enzyme responsible for drug resistance in TB, which combined with the development of new drugs for multi-drug resistant TB, may assist with this health problem. Since the early days of our bilateral relations with the United States in science and technology, where we prioritised health, we now have 112 NIH projects taking place in partnership with South African institutions and research teams. We are actively developing these links and links to 40 other countries where we have bilateral agreements in science and technology.

Diseases of poverty with TB, HIV/AIDS and malaria being the frontrunners, have a new focus within the European Union as reflected in the 6th Framework Programme by the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trial Programme on Poverty Related Diseases - This shows a commitment from the EU to enhance the quality of life of people in developing countries, but these partnerships will also yield more than new treatment modalities, it will develop our researchers through collaborative work with European scientists, and strengthen our own national system of innovation.

We must give priority to the increased use of Indigenous Knowledge within all streams of this scientific development in South Africa. This is clearly shown in the possibility of extracting novel anti-malarials from traditional medicines and the commencement of clinical trials in AIDS patients of traditional medicines that are putative immune modulators.

This great university, Medunsa, is involved in the multi-centred $20 million sponsored, clinical trials of new vaginal microbicides and barrier methods to stop HIV transmission. This important work is funded by the UK Department for International Developments and the Gates Foundation.

In 1918, a virulent new strain of influenza swept the world, killing at least 20 million people before it disappeared. It was the worst human epidemic on record.

SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) is a warning signal about the global impact of disease. Even though it is tempting to write off the current fears of an epidemic as nothing but an alarmist reaction, eventually we will face a re-match with some relative of the 1918 flu - and it will spread like wildfire. SARS is a wake-up call to establish effective surveillance systems for monitoring emerging and re-emerging disease.

The National Institute of Communicable Diseases is the national organ for providing this surveillance and also for researching and addressing regional communicable disease patterns that constitute major threats to public health not only in South Africa but also to the African continent. I hope that some graduates here today will seriously consider research in epidemiology. You will make a lasting contribution to the health of future generations of Africans.

The human sciences (as they are sometimes called) attempt to encompass an approach to humankind that includes the study of our origins, our structure, our functioning, our inherited characteristics and our behaviours both as individuals and as members of human society. Together, these broad areas of knowledge form the basis of the humanitarian applied science of medicine. Medicine itself forms the focus of a modern caring society in which the young are nurtured, the adult kept strong and healthy and the elderly and the sick given relief and rest.

The need for new knowledge becomes increasingly apparent as medicine becomes more specialised and our world more complex. This is the call to which the medical fraternity (both women and men) needs to respond either as healthcare workers or researchers confronting new frontiers - to ensure Better Health for all and a Better Life for all. This future is in your hands, and our contributions are but a platform for your greater journeys and more fruitful endeavours.

I thank you.

Issued by Ministry of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology
23 May 2003

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