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Challenges and opportunities for chemistry in Africa

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Chemistry education and research in Africa is challenging — a fact that is clearly reflected by publication metrics. Yet this is far from the full story on a continent that has youth on its side, a cultural link to chemistry through its strong interest in plants and indigenous medicine, and an increasing number of ways forward.

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Figure 1: Map of Africa showing the research output in terms of number of papers published per country, and the existing chemical societies; Mauritius, not shown, also possesses a chemical society.

Map image: © Jiri Hamhalter / Alamy Stock.

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Acknowledgements

This paper was written during the author's term as a fellow of the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (stiαs). The support of stiαs is greatly appreciated.

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  1. Berhanu Abegaz is the Executive Director of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS), Miotoni Lane 8, Nairobi 00502, Kenya. Prior to his current position in Nairobi, he taught for 17 and 22 years in the universities of Botswana (1994–2011) and Addis Ababa (1973–1994), respectively,

    Berhanu Abegaz

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Correspondence to Berhanu Abegaz.

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Abegaz, B. Challenges and opportunities for chemistry in Africa. Nature Chem 8, 518–522 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2533

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