How slow, costly lab supplies are hurting research in Africa

When Kenyan food scientist Charity Mutegi was researching the extent of aflatoxin contamination on groundnut among farming households in western Kenya in 2010, she faced enormous difficulties obtaining the key laboratory reagent necessary for testing and analysing the samples she had collected in the field.

A leading laboratory chemicals and equipment dealer in Nairobi told Dr Mutegi she would have to produce a letter of approval for importation of the highly sensitive and toxic material into the country from biosafety authorities.

As if having to navigate the bureaucratic hurdles wasn’t frustrating enough, she would still need to wait for at least six months to have the order delivered.

“It was very frustrating because waiting for six months meant I would have to spend much more time before graduation, since a critical part of my work was grounded,” she says.

Luckily for Dr Mutegi, she was able to make alternative arrangements to access the chemical from India in time to enable her to complete her research project, graduate from the University of KwaZulu Natal in South Africa and embark on a successful research career.

She won the Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application in 2013 for her lead role in the team of International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) researchers that made major breakthroughs applying locally adapted and easy to use biological tools in combating aflatoxin contamination.

But not many scientific research efforts in Africa manage to survive the challenges involved in procuring laboratory chemicals and equipment and make the desired impact.

According to the findings of a recent survey of 130 life sciences researchers across 20 African countries, long wait times and high prices arising from indirect access to manufacturers, inefficient procurement and poor logistics infrastructure are hampering research in Africa.

More than 80 of researchers were found to be procuring their lab supplies from distributorships and dealerships, because they have little or no direct access to manufacturers.

“Manufacturers are mostly located in wealthy countries and are disincentivised to provide direct access to products in Africa because of supply chain and importation customs challenges.

“Due to the added operational costs that are incurred by distributors and dealers, and passed on to customers, researchers in Africa typically pay a premium for basic supplies,” says the report of the survey published in the science journal, Nature.

For instance, the prices obtained from a major distributor in Africa for 10 commonly used molecular biology reagents and equipment, including DNA extraction kits, SAR-CoV2 diagnostic assays, pipettes and pipette tips, were 25 to 116 percent above the manufacturer list prices in the United Kingdom.

Thirty-eight percent of the respondents said they did not have institutional procurement support in the form of a dedicated team to manage relationships with suppliers, internal requisition processes, invoicing and payments.

Due to logistical delays or lack of infrastructure, researchers in Africa were found to wait between three and six months to have laboratory supplies and, in some cases, delay experiments or use substandard alternatives.

Logistical hurdles sometimes saw researchers pay more in shipping fees than the cost of the actual supplies.

This, coupled with government-imposed import duties, frequent exchange-rate fluctuations, makes research unaffordable and unsustainable.

The impact of the procurement hurdles, alongside under-investment by governments and development partners, is reflected in the continent’s dismal performance on the global research, innovation and training stage.

While Africa is home to 12 percent of the world’s population, its researchers make up just 2.4 percent of the global pool, according to the World Economic Forum.

The continent has just 79 scientists per million of inhabitants compared to countries like Brazil and United States where the ratio stands at 656 and 4,500, respectively.

Africa’s contribution to the global scientific knowledge – by research citations and registered patents – is even much less at 1.1 percent.

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This means that the continent is ill-equipped to address the emerging challenges it faces, including food insecurity, climate change, low industrialisation, and unemployment.

In March 2014, African governments agreed on a Joint Call for Action in Kigali to adopt a strategy that uses strategic investments in science and technology to accelerate Africa toward a developed knowledge-based society within one generation.

The prospect of achieving that ambitious goal couldn't be much dimmer if the continent's performance in research in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is anything to go by.

A study by the World Bank and Elsevier found that between 2003 and 2012, research in the physical sciences and STEM accounted for only 29 per cent of total research output in sub-Saharan Africa. Health sciences dominated research in the region, accounting for 45 percent of the output.

In contrast, STEM constituted the largest share of Malaysia and Vietnam's total output (an average of 68 percent).

Inadequate funding is widely blamed for Africa's research woes.

But Prof Ratemo Michieka, the chairman of Kenya's National Research Fund, says there is an urgent need to also fix the supply chain problems and enable smooth flow of laboratory equipment, reagents and consumables to Africa.

“We need better linkages between the manufacturers and the end users so that researchers can access lab supplies either directly from the manufacturers or local dealers/distributors at affordable prices.

“We need to begin a conversation involving policymakers and regulators on the need to relook at the import duties, ethical issues and other bureaucratic barriers limiting research and innovation,” he says.

Prof Michieka, the founding vice-chancellor of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), also leads a team of experts and policy makers organising an exhibition dubbed All Things Lab and Testing (ATLT) 2024 in Nairobi in October for solution providers and users of testing and diagnostics services and products.