Any blueprint for the future must define the state of affairs it is starting from. The absence of reliable statistics on science and technology education or research and development in Africa makes it hard to estimate what the current S&T picture is. Countries of Africa need urgent support to gather statistics on science. And these statistics should reveal the current position of women in S&T, whose position in African society makes them effective, but still largely untapped agents for change.

Science and technology have already had a significant impact on development in Africa
 Despite deepening poverty, a recent increase in civil conflicts across the region and an upturn in endemic diseases including malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS, several development indicators reflect the positive impact of S&T in recent decades.

Average life expectancy increased by ten years between 1960 and 1994, rising from 39.9 years to 49.9 years.
The infant mortality rate dropped by over 40 per cent in the same period, falling from 166 per thousand live births to 97 per thousand.
The percentage of the population with access to safe water has almost doubled in the past two decades, rising from 24 per cent in the period 1975-1980 to 42 per cent in the period 1990-1996.
Adult literacy rates more than doubled between 1970 and 1994, from 27 per cent to 56 per cent.
Real GNP per capita has grown from US $990 in 1960 to US $1,377 in 1994. This is above the average growth for LDCs.

However, since the "boom years" immediately after independence, the science and technology capacity of nearly all African states has steadily declined. And this will have serious consequences for the region's future, since S&T is an important engine of economic and social development.

The science and technology base in most of sub-Saharan Africa today is inadequate
 A 1992 study estimated that Africa counted only 20,000 scientists and engineers, or 0.36 per cent of the world total. According to another study, the region was responsible for only 0.8 per cent of total world scientific publications. Its world share of patents is close to zero.

In Japan, the United States and Europe, there are between two and five scientists and engineers per 1,000 population. Parts of sub-Saharan Africa have only one scientist or engineer for about every 10,000 population.

The most serious difficulties the S&T community is encountering in Africa include a steady decline in R&D investment, the brain drain, obsolescence and dilapidated infrastructure. The list should also include insufficient levels of numeracy and literacy, and too few girls and women with S&T education, at all levels.

R&D investment
 Available figures suggest that overall government support for R&D in Africa is one of the lowest in the world (about 0.2 per cent of GNP).



Only South Africa and the Seychelles spend 1 per cent or more of GNP on R&D. Many experts agree that investment needs to be above 1 per cent of GNP to have any significant impact. S&T investment in the most developed countries is closer to 3 per cent of GNP.
Yet even 1 per cent may not be a realistic target for some African countries. The Director-General of UNESCO has suggested a minimum target of 0.4 per cent of GNP for the least developed African states. Meanwhile, representatives of African Member States themselves have called on the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to earmark 3 per cent of all its African national allocations for research and development.

Brain drain
 Available figures suggest that as many as 30,000 Africans holding Ph.D. degrees are living outside the continent. Students who are able to find employment abroad leave, while some of those trained abroad do not return. Meanwhile, poor salaries and prospects in universities mean that trained scientists and engineers often move to civil service jobs or to business and commerce.

Obsolescence
 One of the most serious challenges for the S&T community in Africa is obsolescence. Training curricula and science facilities lag far behind those in other parts of the world. It is common in Africa to see science classes with students taking turns to use a handful of microscopes and other instruments, if these are even available. In some cases students have to pay for essential materials themselves.

Political instability and declining infrastructure
 At the same time, war and armed conflicts have undermined the long-term stability, peace and prosperity of much of the region. In 1996 alone, 14 of the 53 countries of Africa were afflicted by armed conflicts. Even in those states that are politically stable, with some notable exceptions, the inadequate energy, transport and communications infrastructures are a brake on development.
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