By Li-Ming Pan, Communications and External Relations Officer, Harvard Center for African Studies (e-mail: li-ming_pan@fas.harvard.edu)
The Center for African Studies has been a leader at Harvard in bringing together our university community around all issues related to Africa.
Recent initiatives with African governments and at the African Union demonstrate that Africa is embracing a new era in science and technology. Given the expertise of Harvard’s faculty in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), the Center for African Studies is prioritizing these areas of research in a university-wide research effort on STEM in Africa. We welcomed four Harvard Professors to share their work on food security, access to and quality of C-Sections in rural Rwanda, helping the Ethiopian government set national health priorities, and connecting the importance of early childhood education to shape the future generation in Africa.
Food Insecurity in Africa
Global food insecurity, particularly in Africa, has been increasing over the past five years, with indicators pointing to extreme weather that impacts agriculture production. There are countless reports to show that weather conditions influence agriculture production. However, what types of extreme weather can we expect to be caused by climate change, and how exactly will that influence nutrition in a country? Some models suggest massive increases in rainfall, whereas other models suggest massive decreases in rainfall. Peter Huybers, Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Environmental Science and Engineering at John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, is currently looking at crop yields in Africa in a new way using data science. Scientists are unable to determine location and time of inclement weather for most of Africa, most of the time, as most rain records in Africa are unreliable. However, using recent satellite observations, he is able to look at soil moisture with unprecedented accuracy and resolution every three days to know whether crops have access to water resources. When a leaf photosynthesizes, it emits a fluorescent light that can be detected in space, therefore Professor Huybers is able to monitor how actively crops are photosynthesizing every few days as it correlates to yield. Professor Huybers’ work has real implications for our ability to understand what's happening on the ground in Africa. Professor Huybers’ work is finding the risks and opportunities that come from weather shocks as it impacts availability of food, which impacts the health outcomes on the continent.
Access and Quality of C-Sections in Rural Rwanda
The infrastructure and resources for high quality rigorous research in rural locations are often a barrier. However, Bethany Hedt-Gauthier, Associate Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, knows the importance of understanding health care in these areas. More than 85% of Rwandans live in rural areas that have access to health care. In collaboration with colleagues from Partners In Health and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Professor Hedt-Gauthier is working on improving access to and quality of C-sections. This is done in rural Rwanda by examining the local context from performing surgery to diagnosing post-surgery infections, as well as prescribing medicine to treat infection. There may be many indicators that impact infections after a C-section, but would we ever think that it was due to the weather? During the rainy season, water is out every 10 days, but during the dry season, water is out every third day. Professor Hedt-Gauthier’s research has shown that a day that water is not flowing is one of the most significant predictors of surgical site infection risk. Telemedicine is important in this context to follow-up on common complications after C-sections. As patients live far away from the closest health center, community health workers are integral in providing health care in rural Rwanda. Professor Hedt-Gauthier’s team is exploring ways to shorten the time it takes for a patient to be diagnosed by having community health workers send images and texts to a General Practitioner (GP). However, there may be a need to rely on a cell network or internet connection for this kind of care. In addition, her team is exploring machine learning algorithms that can run on mobile devices using images taken of a wound. Some results have shown 99% accuracy using this method, which can provide a diagnosis even before a GP sees the images.
Setting National Health Priorities in Ethiopia
When it comes to setting priorities for national governments, research is required. Stephane Verguet, Assistant Professor of Global Health, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, generates supporting evidence for setting priorities for the Ethiopian health sector and for decision making as well as develop local capacity. The documents produced by Professor Verguet for the Ethiopian Ministry of Health, "Essential Health Services Package of Ethiopia," summarizes the information gathering process as well as the kinds of steps in connecting those analytically. The research also documents what would be the resulting set of interventions for prioritization by government over the next 15 years on the way to universal health coverage and the sustainable development goals. This document was launched in Addis Ababa in November 2019. In participation with the Ministry of Health in Ethiopia, Professor Verguet’s team trains scholars, researchers, and policymakers in health economics and decision science. Trainees include master-level, PhD-level, as well as other technical people in the Ministry of Health who benefit from short-course trainings.
Improving Early Childhood Development in Africa
A quarter of preschool aged children live in Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa also has the highest proportion of preschool aged children who are struggling to meet basic milestones for cognitive and social emotional development. The ages between birth and age eight are a foundational period of development. Dana McCoy, Assistant Professor at Harvard Graduate School of Education, believes that if we want to support STEM development, there must be early intervention of foundational skill building for young children. This includes educating the youth in effective critical thinking, problem solving, and entrepreneurial skills central to modern economies. Professor McCoy is measuring early childhood development in ways that are cost effective, scalable, culturally appropriate, and policy relevant. Many of the assessments used to measure early childhood development are expensive and are not culturally appropriate for children in Africa. For example, asking a child from Tanzania to describe a picture of someone building a snowman. Her team has developed a culturally appropriate, inexpensive, and nonproprietary method for measurement. They created CREDI, the Caregiver-Reported Early Development Instrument, which is an open-source tool that is freely available for caregivers to measure infant and toddler development. CREDI has been used in 26 countries to date, and 18 additional countries have plans to implement the tool. Her research is also focused on understanding how to shape children’s development through intervention.
We were fortunate to have these professors share their work with us. As shown in this event, their work is representative but by no means exhaustive of the efforts of Harvard’s faculty, students, and researchers undertaken every day to advance their knowledge and understanding about key issues that impact Africa and the world. There have been real opportunities to innovate during a time of virtual connections, which allows us to collaborate with people from around the world who are experts and leaders in their field. Although we have missed the personal connection, it is encouraging to still be able to learn more about the research happening by Harvard faculty that will influence STEM-related work on the continent as well as have Professor Richard McCullough, Vice Provost for Research, and Professor Mark Elliott, Vice Provost for International Affairs share their support for Harvard’s work in Africa. The Center supports this work through resources such as the Motsepe Presidential Research Accelerator Fund for Africa. You can watch the virtual October 13, 2020 event here: https://vimeo.com/468290791