In a conversation with Global South Pole, Dr. Mahmoud Bukar Maina, a Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellow at the Biomedical Science Research and Training Centre at Yobe State University in Nigeria and Science Adviser to the Yobe State Government, discussed the growing importance of studying neurological diseases through African research models and strengthening scientific infrastructure across the continent.
Dr. Maina explained that understanding diseases of the brain often begins at the level of individual cells, where disruptions in specific brain regions can lead to conditions such as epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, or Alzheimer’s. Studying these mechanisms through research models that include African populations, he suggested, can deepen global knowledge about how such diseases develop and how they might eventually be treated.
"This is where we need Africans and African governments to support indigenous scientists to lead work, support them to have collaborations that is equitable where they also are leaders in the collaboration […] so that we will begin to answer these questions in a context that also meets our own you know realities," Dr. Maina stressed.
To listen to the whole conversation, tune in to the Global South Pole podcast, brought to you by Sputnik Africa.
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