A Tribute to Our Global Health Research Unit Partnership 

My preoccupation that access to the tools of science should be considered a human rights priority emerged from three considerations.

1. The Unacceptable Threat

COVID-19 exposed a brutal and previously unimaginable reality: the possibility that the population of an entire continent could be lost simply because it lacked the core capabilities to make its own essential drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics. The irony was stark. The testing and vaccine technologies that ultimately saved lives had been developed by unassuming university scientists[1]^,[2] whose primary interest was the creation of new knowledge. Yet those same technologies were commoditised in a centralised, market-driven way. In the process, the continent without access to the cash or the tools of science (the experts, the infrastructure, and the systems built by the biosciences, chemistry, and engineering) was left behind.

Since the pandemic, Africa has moved from one crisis to another and is now under heavy strain from the latest international crisis — one not of its own making. While hoping this crisis will be resolved soon, Ebola is now emerging as the next threat. Access to the tools of science would enable Africa not only to fend off emerging threats, but to contribute meaningfully to global welfare, driven by its inherent outward-looking value systems.

2. The Unsustainability of the Prevailing Science Model

Critical natural resources are finite and exceptional talent is scarce. Both are gifts that must be stewarded with great care if they are to serve humanity in such a fragile global ecosystem. Yet the dominant model for acquiring talent and resources alike remains largely extractive. Reportedly, 55% of America’s billion-dollar start-ups have an immigrant founder[3]; 65% of the top AI companies in the US are likewise said to have immigrant founders[4]. Critical minerals and rare-earth elements follow the same pattern; extracted or sourced in one place to power advanced technologies elsewhere. My concern here is not with the benefits accrued elsewhere — after all we live in an interconnected world — but with the fact that the countries of origin retain too little of the value generated by the talent and resources they have supplied. In the current model, Science is deployed as a means of concentrating economic and political power.

Expanding access to the tools of science in people’s home countries is not charity; it is strategy. It builds talent, creativity, and the ecosystems in which science can thrive, weathering geopolitical storms and generating knowledge and discoveries that ultimately benefit the world. Governments of these origin countries must also carry a clear responsibility: to create and sustain the conditions in which science and partnership ecosystems can take root and endure.

3. The Need for Values-Driven Science

An undue fixation on return on investment, amplified by politically motivated attacks on higher education, has narrowed the public understanding of science to whatever yields the quickest financial return. Sustainability and scientific excellence do require attention to value for money and to prosperity. But this cannot come at the expense of the basic sciences and the humanities. Sustained investment in these foundational fields fosters discoveries that lead to significant societal solutions, while also cultivating the wisdom that enables societies to use knowledge responsibly. The long-term consequences of commodifying science could be severe.

The highest purpose of science is the good of humanity. Science that serves society or produces genuine breakthroughs requires sustained patronage. And the good of humanity is not an abstraction: it means creating conditions in which children can flourish, adults can find meaningful work that contributes to the welfare of others, and older people can recall life with satisfaction of what they have achieved and guide the young with integrity and wisdom.

I hope this argument is not mistaken for an endorsement of the core tenets of socialism or communism. It is true that ownership of the means of production matters, but that is where the similarity ends.

The AAU–BSMS Partnership

My argument is simple: widespread access to the tools of science offers greater global opportunities for sustainable prosperity and peace. I have dared to think of this as a realistic possibility thanks to our high-impact partnership with Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS). The partnership between Addis Ababa University (AAU) and BSMS was built on values-driven principles that encouraged trust, freedom, autonomy, and a shared commitment to deliver the maximum possible impact within the resources available[5].

Through this partnership:

• We have built the skills and knowledge of young scientists who are now friends not only with a UK medical school but with the British people themselves.

• We have advanced medical discovery and research infrastructure — especially under the pressures imposed by COVID-19.

• Lives have been touched and positively transformed.

The funders — the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the Wellcome Trust — were also vital partners on this journey. Our project implementation faced substantial challenges over the past eight years, yet our funders were willing to share and navigate those challenges with us through pragmatic, focused interventions.

In acknowledgement that this undertaking was also a partnership with the British people, delegation of the UK Parliament (The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Malaria and NTDs) from the UK Parliament conducted an official visit to support the work[6], offer guidance, express solidarity, and ensure that British taxpayers’ money was used responsibly.

Looking Forward

Based on what has already been achieved, one may envision:

• UK students graduating from AAU and creating new diagnostic and vaccine technologies in the UK.

• Drugs developed jointly at AAU CDT-Africa infrastructures helping to cure cancer in the UK and beyond.

• A new, values-driven scientific approach built on the shared interests of humanity.