Based in Nigeria, Dr. Christian Happi is a molecular biologist whose day job is combating infectious diseases. Alongside his life-saving scientific work, he’s on a mission to embolden young African scientists to take the narrative of Africa into their own hands. For far too long, says Happi, the West has failed to credit Africans for innovation and scientific breakthroughs—a legacy of the power dynamics of colonialism and anti-Black racism.
Dr. Happi leads the African Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases. The Center has become a platform where Africans can do cutting edge science and be recognized as leaders in the field, on a global scale. His team was among the first to map genomes for both Ebola and Covid-19. Shared with scientists around the world, the genomic sequencing accelerated widespread testing and tracing of both diseases. Dr. Happi speaks with Nguhi about scientific innovation, the narrative shift of decolonization, and global lessons for the next pandemic. His message: Think how much Africa could contribute to the world, if given the opportunity.
Show Notes
Dr. Happi goes into detail about Sentinel, his virus detection network in his TED Talk with Pardis Sabeti. Learn more about his leadership to combat COVID-19 here.
Learn more about why Happi and other scientists say that an open-access movement for genomic data led by wealthy nations deprives them of credit and undermines their efforts in Nature.
More broadly, read more about Africa’s effective COVID-19 response in Time. The World Bank also describes how years of building scientific capacity in Africa had a positive impact on the continent’s COVID response.
Learn more about Onesimus and the origins of inoculation here, or in Ibram X. Kendi’s book, “Stamped from the Beginning.”
Dr. Happi’s genomic sequencing enabled rapid virus detection. What’s next for the continent as vaccines rollout? Read more here.
A transcript of Dr. Happi’s conversation with Nguhi can be found here.
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image via Financial Times
