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This document presents the proceedings of a conference at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in December 2001. The conference papers deal with themes relating to the role of scientific research in the development of Northern countries and the need for North–South research cooperation. They document the experiences of research cooperation involving, among others, India, South Africa and a number of East African countries. Several papers deal with innovation and scientific cooperation, with case studies.

Researchers looked at global patterns of antibiotic resistance to assess how best to tackle the problem. They looked at three geographically separated, and culturally and economically distinct countries — China, Kuwait and the US: the theory was that if these very different countries had different patterns of resistance, a country-specific approach could still work: if the patterns were similar, a coordinated international response would be needed.

China had the fastest growing rate of increasing resistance, followed by Kuwait and then the US. The authors note that surveillance data are urgently needed to clarify the scope of the problem. Despite the paucity of data, preliminary data show China is doing worst — resistance of SPN (Streptococcus pneumoniae) to erythromycin is 73 per cent, compared with 23 per cent in Kuwait, and its MRSA levels are at 90 per cent

The authors say that although these countries have different trends at the moment, increasing globalisation means this might not last long. Also needed are better methods of data aggregation and analysis of how resistance is transmitted across national boundaries.

The first of this two-part series looks in detail at how antibiotic resistance affects the treatment of different types of illnesses — those that attack the gut (such as salmonella or cholera) and respiratory system (such as the tuberculosis bacterium), and the bacterium that causes gonorrhoea.  Treating these diseases in developing countries is increasingly difficult because the cheap antibiotics that were once effective are growing to be useful against bacteria that have developed resistance. These changes are pushing up treatment costs in developing countries. Drug-resistant tuberculosis, for example, is more expensive to treat than the non-drug-resistant type.

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The second half of this series focuses on action needed to contain antimicrobial resistance. It outlines the risk factors that can lead to resistance emerging and spreading, particularly in developing countries: using poor-quality drugs or inadequate infection control in hospitals, for example. The article outlines strategies to stop the problem getting worse but points out that developing countries differ widely in the state of their healthcare systems and their resources, so a one-size-fits-all model is not useful.

The authors emphasise the importance of education of the public and of medical practitioners because otherwise the only information available to most healthcare professionals is from pharmaceutical companies that may not fit government or local priorities. In developing countries, unsanctioned providers are a particular problem because they might give people counterfeit or substandard antibiotics that can fuel resistance.

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Good prescribing practices are important in tackling antibiotic resistance, and diagnostics are key to ensuring good practice. Knowing who not to treat is as important as knowing who to treat. The article reports on analyses by the Global Health Diagnostic Forum of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to assess how many lives could be saved by better diagnostics for six major illnesses, including malaria and tuberculosis. The researchers assessed the technical issues associated with implementing the diagnostic tests in developing countries for three classes of laboratory infrastructure — none, minimal, or moderate to advanced.

They found that for acute lower respiratory infections, syphilis, gonorrhoea, chlamydia and TB, outcomes could be much improved if tests were sent to sites with minimal or no laboratory infrastructure. In these types of settings, the practicality of obtaining a specimen is important. For example, obtaining a blood sample correctly to test HIV viral load is almost impossible where there are no laboratory facilities. Using sputum to test for TB has similar issues because of the impracticability of the sample medium. Thus, new biomarkers might be needed to test for diseases with specimens different from those currently used. Combination tests that look for a range of infectious organisms in one sample would be useful in resource-poor settings.

The researchers also highlight the importance of taking into account cultural and social sensitivities when designing interventions – blood sampling is not always accepted in some regions of the world, for example.

This study outlines the findings of the 2003 TIMSS for the participating Arab countries, namely, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian National Authority, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Tunisia. TIMSS is a study of cross-national achievement in mathematics and sciences for fourth and eighth grade students since 1959.

The report provides useful data on each of the participating countries, and compares Arab and international average scores. It includes data on average achievement scores, resource availability, access to computers, the number of curriculum hours designated, teacher characteristics and credentials, and classroom characteristics and instruction quality.

The study finds that while most Arab countries lag behind the international averages, a few have made progress since the last exercise in 1999. It also highlights interesting aspects of this difference and suggests measures to improve student achievement. The document is especially useful for educators in Muslim countries seeking credible data and analysis on student achievement.

This scientific article provides an insight into the status of public research in genetically modified (GM) crops in Egypt, Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe in 2004.

The authors document 54 transgenic 'events' — specific instances of genetic transformation — across the four countries. They identify work to develop GM strains for 20 crops, including cotton, maize, potatoes, sugar cane, tomatoes and wheat. South Africa is shown to be a particularly important centre for biotech research, accounting for 28 out of the 54 events examined.

The authors call for a simplified system to facilitate regulatory approval of GM crop trials and commercial releases across the continent as a whole and suggest measures to encourage inter-institutional links and South–South collaborations.

This research article, by Rosemary Wolson at the University of Cape Town, assesses South Africa's biotechnology policies, reviewing three major initiatives — the national research and development strategy, biotechnology strategy and proposed laws to govern intellectual property rights derived from publicly funded research. Wolson explains the origins, goals and implementation of each.

The projects aim to create a coordinated strategy for promoting biotechnology in South Africa. Wolson concludes that the efforts are an encouraging sign of governmental commitment, but notes the continuing challenge of integrating the individual projects into a coherent framework. This may depend on promoting social networks to catalyse innovative industries.

She calls for the government to encourage more private enterprise and investment while remaining committed to basic research.

This article is useful to anyone hoping to understand the policy framework for biotechnology in one of sub-Saharan Africa's key scientific and industrial powers.

In this research article, Victor Konde of the University of Zambia argues that industrial biotechnologies can improve food security in Africa through improved livestock feeds and vaccines, as well as biotechnological pesticides, fertilisers and herbicides. He adds that biotechnology can also help farmers process crop and livestock products for new markets.

But Africa must first overcome a number of key challenges, says Konde — including restrictions on agricultural exports, weaknesses in scientific capacity and investment, and a lack of diplomatic strength to effectively promote its interests in international negotiations.

The author proposes ways for African policymakers to encourage biotech enterprise and investment, collaborative and interdisciplinary research, strategic alliances and public–private partnerships.

This research article assesses the potential for biotechnological approaches to overcome major pests, diseases and weeds undermining food security in Africa. The eight authors review three major constraints — parasitic weeds and herbicide-resistant grasses, insect pests, including those carrying plant diseases, and mycotoxins that damage stored grains.

They note that biotechnological solutions to some of these are already being explored, such as insect resistance in maize, but they say that others, like the control of parasitic weeds, will require longer-term study. The authors argue that these should be prioritised in public research programmes and supported by the private sector through donations of useful genes and technologies.

Their methodical discussion helps identify key priority areas for crop biotech research in Africa. This article will be useful to policy analysts, decision makers and research managers working in the field.

These proceedings from the 2006 World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing broadly focus on the development of new biotechnology and bioprocessing industries, including biofuel crops.

Although they give a predominantly developed world perspective, they may be of interest to developing countries examining the potential of GM crops or other agricultural biotechnologies for producing energy or industrial compounds to address their own priorities and needs.

The discussions range across scientific, technical, economic and political topics. The section on feedstocks for bioprocessing is particularly interesting as it considers the potential for creating new molecules from plants, biomass harvesting and processing to produce energy.

This issue of the African Technology Development Forum Journal highlights technology transfer in Africa. In particular, it looks at the different ways technology is transferred to and from Africa, and how these vary across the continent. It discusses international organisations' role in agricultural technology transfer and examines how both international and local public-private partnerships can help transfer technology in all sectors of the economy.

This collection of articles forms an operational guide on how to conduct evaluations of diagnostic tests for malaria. It was published as a special supplement in Nature Reviews Microbiology. The collection includes an introduction, two review articles and a relevant set of guidelines.

The first review, A guide for diagnostic evaluations, provides background information, discussing why good quality diagnostic tests for malaria are needed, how they are evaluated and how regulatory standards can control the introduction and use of diagnostic tests. The second, Ensuring quality and access for malaria diagnosis: how can it be achieved?, focuses on the availability and use of diagnostic tests that perform reliably and accurately under field conditions and emphasises the need for community-based health management.

The guidelines, Evaluation of rapid diagnostic tests: malaria, outline the principles for evaluating malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs). It stresses the need for field tests and describes the issues that can affect study design, RDT performance, standards and quality assurance and the effects of storage and cultured parasites in lab-based trials.

This document brings together 14 scholarly papers presented at an international workshop in Turin, Italy in March 2005, as well as an overview of an e-conference that took place in June and July 2005. These two events examined the potential role of biotechnology in "the characterisation and conservation" of agricultural genetic resources.

The first four papers look at the current global status of livestock, fishery, crop and forest genetic resources, respectively. There are also two papers on the application of cryopreservation and reproductive techniques and eight papers that focus on the use of molecular markers. The final two chapters present the background discussion and summary from the e-conference.

This report represents a valuable resource for scientists, policy analysts and others who need a clear overview of how biotechnology can help document and preserve genetic resources.

This report summarises the thirteenth email conference of the FAO Forum on Biotechnology in Food and Agriculture, held between 6 June and 4 July 2005. Of the 127 postings to the conference, 67 per cent came from participants living in developing countries. People working in research organisations and universities comprised most of the participants; the rest were employees of inter-government institutes, non-governmental organisations, national development agencies and private companies.

The conference focused on the biotechnology tools being introduced and used in the crop, forestry, fishery and livestock sectors in developing countries. A topic heavily debated in the forum was the use of molecular markers in the characterisation of genetic resources, as was the need to use these tools alongside other factors, such as morphology and agronomic performance. In vitro techniques such as tissue culture, cryo-preservation and DNA storage were also discussed.

Factors that limit the ability of developing countries to apply these tools – such as lack of funds, human capacity and adequate infrastructure – were identified. Better collaboration, aimed at reducing costs and sharing talent, was highlighted as a way forward, with international organisations such as CGIAR and FAO seen as key to coordinating such efforts and supporting capacity building.

This paper reports on the successful transfer of a key disease-resistance gene from maize into rice, demonstrating the feasibility of gene transfer between distantly related grasses. The technique has important implications for introducing resistance to diseases in crops with no inherited resistance.

It is important in that it reveals how a single gene can influence resistance to unrelated disease-causing microbes. The gene in question, called Rxo1, controls resistance to bacterial streak disease in rice, as well as bacterial stripe disease in sorghum and maize.

This work is of interest to companies and academic researchers working on diseases of cereal crops, and to policy-makers and research managers because of its implications for the development of disease resistance in some of the world’s major food crops. Overall, it offers an interesting insight into a potentially valuable avenue of research.

This report by US and Chinese researchers analyses the impact of two insect-resistant GM rice varieties grown at eight trial sites in China. The authors studied crop yields, levels of pesticide application and whether farmers growing GM rice varieties reported fewer pesticide-related illnesses than non-GM farmers.

The study was carried out on pre-production trials, with data gathered from randomly selected households. External enumerators surveyed farmers and found that those growing GM rice applied pesticide less frequently than those growing non-GM rice (0.5 times per season as compared with 3.7 times by non-GM farmers). Yields of insect-resistant rice were 6 to 9 per cent higher than non-GM varieties. In addition, no farmer growing GM rice reported adverse health effects. By contrast, 8.3 per cent of farmers in 2002, and 3 per cent in 2003, reported feeling ill after applying pesticide to their non-GM rice crop.

These data on the impact of GM rice in pre-commercial trials are could pave the way for the introduction of other GM crops because the commercialisation of a major GM food crop such as rice is expected to influence the introduction of other GM food crops in the future.

This summarises an electronic conference moderated by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization on agricultural biotechnology research and the needs of developing countries. The conference considered a number of questions that are detailed in a related background document.

The key conclusions were:

• The agricultural research agenda of developing countries should be based on a "bottom-up" approach defined by the needs of domestic communities in those countries.
• Agricultural biotechnology research should complement research on conventional technologies. Participants agreed that it is important to allocate resources to non-GMO biotechnology research in developing countries, but opinions diverged about using scarce research resources for GMO research.
• Research collaborations, both within and between countries, are fundamental to science in developing countries, but public-private sector collaborations should be treated with caution to ensure that research geared to the needs of the poor is not ignored.

This paper was prepared as a background document for the conference organised by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's Electronic Forum on Biotechnology in Food and Agriculture in 2002. The paper addresses the role and focus that biotechnology should have in agricultural research agendas in developing countries.

The paper outlines key trends in agricultural research and agricultural biotechnology research, and identifies the questions with most relevance to developing countries that were addressed in the forum.

In the light of the resource constraints that developing countries operate under, the paper highlights the following key issues facing policy makers in developing countries regarding agricultural biotechnology research:

• How much importance should developing countries give to biotechnology research?
• How should they allocate biotechnology research resources with respect to the different agricultural sectors or to the different kinds of biotechnologies available?
• How should they prioritise the different kinds of problems (and specifically those affecting poor farmers) that might be addressed by the research?
• How should developing countries carry out this research — by focusing on their national agricultural research systems (NARS), by collaborating with other countries in their region, or by working with the private sector or universities in the developed world?

These questions were dealt with in an electronic conference and in a related summary document — which provides a summary of key conclusions on the issues.

In this editorial* (J Infect Dis 189:2149-53, 15 June 2004), Marc Butlerys and his co-authors review the success and progress of strategies aimed at the prevention of MTCT during breastfeeding, and outlines the challenges for future research. These include the refinement of antiretroviral drug regimens, and the use of (still experimental) alternatives such as antibodies to clear any HIV that crosses to the baby during breastfeeding.  

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