SciDev.Net

The federation aims to boost chemistry across Africa

SciDev.Net / David Dickson

An organisation promoting collaboration between African chemists will be launched on 23 February in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

The Federation of African Societies of Chemistry will create a network of African chemists to encourage cooperation and help disseminate research results.

It also aims to improve chemistry teaching, and raise public understanding of chemistry and its role in economic development.

The federation's activities will include publishing a newsletter and organising workshops and scientific meetings.

Shem Wandiga, chair of the Kenya Chemical Society, told SciDev.Net that the federation "will help African chemists to collaborate on programmes that are relevant and important for the development of the discipline and of African societies".

He added the continent's chemists are rarely in contact with each other, and that the federation could help overcome this.

Simon Campbell, president of the UK-based Royal Society of Chemistry, says: "Strengthening the chemical sciences in Africa is essential to overcome the many challenges the continent faces, and to stimulate economic and social development."

"The federation can make an important contribution towards realising the ambitions we all share for Africa by facilitating a network of chemical scientists with a common vision and commitment to apply their knowledge to solving the major problems of the 21st Century," he told SciDev.Net.

The federation will be launched ahead of the annual congress of the Chemical Society of Ethiopia, which takes place in Addis Ababa from 24 to 25 February.

Membership will be open to African chemists and non-profit societies whose membership consists largely of qualified chemists.