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SUNDAY SCIENCE: SCIENCE SHOULD SAVE ALL, NOT JUST SOME  
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Madhukar Pai and Seye Abimbola
August 9, 2024
Science
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_ Righting Old Wrongs. How science is shedding a colonial legacy. _

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Discussions around global equity and justice in science typically
emphasize the lack of diversity in the editorial boards of scientific
journals, inequities in authorship, “parachute research,”
dominance of the English language, or scientific awards garnered
predominantly by Global North scientists. These inequities are
pervasive and must be redressed. But there is a bigger problem. The
legacy of colonialism in scientific research includes an intellectual
property system that favors Global North countries and the big
corporations they support. This unfairness shows up in who gets access
to the fruits of science and raises the question of who science is
designed to serve or save.

Consider the COVID-19 pandemic, which gave already known mRNA vaccine
technology a global platform. But even as the world celebrated this
achievement with a Nobel Prize, the stunning fact remains that
COVID-19 vaccines failed to reach millions of people in the Global
South in a timely manner, despite the public investments into making
these technologies. Global North governments hoarded vaccines and were
lobbied by pharmaceutical companies to block a patent waiver that
could have enabled Global South countries to make their own mRNA
vaccines as a short-term solution during a period of acute need. The
commitment to capitalist exploitation that powered much of European
colonization persists in science and continues to cost lives. If
vaccines had reached the Global South in an equitable and timely
manner, half the deaths that occurred might have been averted.
Although efforts are being made to bring the technology to Africa, the
mRNA platform is largely controlled by the Global North and Big
Pharma, undermining vaccine development against a variety of diseases.
These same power dynamics and actors also derailed the pandemic
accord, which aims to ensure equity.

Recently, the world celebrated the success of lenacapavir as a
pre-exposure prophylaxis that was 100% effective in preventing HIV
acquisition in cisgender women in South Africa and Uganda. And yet,
this breakthrough innovation costs $42,000 a year. Even as the
manufacturer pledged to improve access, advocates have raised concerns
that this scientific “miracle” might take time to reach the girls
and women in Africa who urgently need it. Are Black and brown
individuals worthy of clinical trials, but not of access to
life-saving treatments?

“…SCIENCE MUST NO LONGER BE AN ENTERPRISE THAT PRIVILEGES PROFITS
AND THE ELITE.”

These examples reflect the importance of not only thinking about who
does science and how, but also whether all people have a right to the
fruits of science. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (1948) stipulates that “everyone has the right…to share in
scientific advancements and its benefits.” This declaration must be
reaffirmed by all scientists and countries because lives depend on it.
For this right to be realized, science must no longer be an enterprise
that privileges profits and the elite. Communities most affected by
problems must help drive the agenda on what science gets conducted, by
whom, how, and who benefits the most from it. Advocates for HIV/AIDS
demonstrated that communities can indeed influence the research agenda
and push for access. Those who have been historically marginalized,
including Black and Indigenous people, people of color, and people in
the Global South, must refuse to be seen as passive recipients of
charitable and trickle-down science, and demand equitable
partnerships.

Fortunately, self-determination and self-sufficiency in advancing
science by Global South nations are emerging. India and China produced
COVID-19 vaccines (non-mRNA based) that reached other Global South
nations during the pandemic. An mRNA-vaccine hub in South Africa,
hailed as a “decolonial aspiration,” and the African Vaccine
Manufacturing Accelerator (AVMA) are poised to create a sustainable
vaccine manufacturing industry in Africa. African scientists
collaborated during the COVID-19 pandemic to expand genomic sequencing
infrastructure and are now leading the way in defining the landscape
of genomics research in the region. Greater South-South solidarity can
further amplify such initiatives, by enabling technology transfer,
research consortia, and cross-country exchanges.

Scientists must collectively advocate for reforms to how science is
funded, who is funded, how governments define intellectual property
regimes, and how scientists are incentivized. Funding agencies such as
the US Agency for International Development, Wellcome Trust, and
Fogarty International Center are starting to directly support Global
South partners and affected communities. All funders must do this. And
scientists everywhere must be trained to see equity, access, and
justice as key values in their work. This is starting to happen in
global health and medical research, but must become universal.

_MADHUKAR PAI is a professor and chair of the Department of Global
and Public Health, School of Population and Global Health, McGill
University, Montreal, Canada. [email protected]_

_SEYE ABIMBOLA is an associate professor in the School of Public
Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney,
Sydney, [email protected]_

_The formation of AAAS in 1848 marked the emergence of a national
scientific community in the United States. While science was part of
the American scene from the nation's early days, its practitioners
remained few in number and scattered geographically and among
disciplines. AAAS was the first permanent organization formed to
promote the development of science and engineering at the national
level and to represent the interests of all its disciplines._

_Participants in AAAS meetings, held in cities across the country,
represented a who's who of science. The meetings were covered widely
by newspapers, which sometimes reprinted their proceedings verbatim._

_However, AAAS's permanence was not preordained and, despite the many
contributions it made during its first 50 years, the Association came
close to extinction more than once. Ultimately, an alliance
with SCIENCE magazine, which had failed as a private venture,
rejuvenated both the magazine and AAAS._

_Join AAAS.  [[link removed]] Support AAAS.
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* Science
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* Inequality
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* Equity
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* corporate profits
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* self determination
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* justice
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