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PEOPLE With education reformers calling for more girls to take up sciences, there is no greater rolemodel to inspire them than the first-ever female President of Mauritius, Dr Ameenah GuribFakim. reGina Jane Jere spoke to her in Ghana where she was presented with the CePAT 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award for her contributions to public health in Africa and globally. More girls should take up science Her CV is perhaps one of the finest and rarest in Africa. Dr Ameenah Gurib-Fakim (pictured right), elected as the President of Mauritius in 2014, is one of Africa’s most educated and respected heads of state; and as commander-in-chief and guardian of the country’s constitution, exerts major influence presiding over one of the continent’s most stable nations. The unassuming mother of two has also achieved many other firsts, including being the first female dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Mauritius. In 2007, she received the prestigious ‘L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award’ for her research on the exploration and analysis of plants from Mauritius and their bio-medical applications. She later created the first full inventory of medicinal and aromatic plants found in Mauritius and the neighbouring island of Rodrigues. Her analysis of the antibacterial and antifungal properties of plants from Mauritius is paving the way for their use as safe and effective alternatives to commercial medicines. Dr Gurib-Fakim has authored and co-edited over 28 books, journals and research papers on biodiversity conservation and sustainable development and has won multiple further awards. That alone should inspire a generation of future African women scientists. “There aren’t enough women and girls taking up the sciences; the Women in Science Exchange will help girls to go into the field.” And inspire is what she did as keynote speaker and Lifetime Achievement awardee at the Centre for Pharmaceutical Advancement and Training (CePAT) Honours, held in Accra, Ghana, earlier this year. Supported by the US Pharmacopeial Convention, CePAT also used the occasion to launch its first-ever Women in Science Exchange (WISE). This programme aims at helping female students enter science and pharmaceutical career paths, particularly in drug regulation and manufacturing. “There aren’t enough women and girls taking up the sciences; the 44  New African august/september 2017 WISE programme is such a great initiative and will help in building the confidence of young women and girls to go into the field… we need to see more girls in the sciences,” she told New African. She based the theme of her keynote speech, ‘Traditional Medicines: The need for standards and their role in advancing Africa’s economy’, on an area close to her heart and work. “I have spent a significant part of my professional life teaching, advocating and championing initiatives to modernise our traditional medicines’ manufacture and use. As scientists and researchers, it beholds us to ensure the quality and safety of our traditional medicines for the benefit of mankind.” Here are some of the highlights of what she shared with us: Women in leadership positions, or the lack of “It is work in progress and it may take time. But things are happening; here I am as a woman President. But, I have been advocating that we need to have better representation and there is a need to fix what we are all talking about – leaky pipe syndrome – which loses a lot of women in the pipeline, instead of bringing them along into systems and institutions. “But the onus is also on all Africans. People have to start asking the right questions.

PEOPLE

With education reformers calling for more girls to take up sciences, there is no greater rolemodel to inspire them than the first-ever female President of Mauritius, Dr Ameenah GuribFakim. reGina Jane Jere spoke to her in Ghana where she was presented with the CePAT 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award for her contributions to public health in Africa and globally.

More girls should take up science

Her CV is perhaps one of the finest and rarest in Africa. Dr Ameenah Gurib-Fakim (pictured right), elected as the President of Mauritius in 2014, is one of Africa’s most educated and respected heads of state; and as commander-in-chief and guardian of the country’s constitution, exerts major influence presiding over one of the continent’s most stable nations.

The unassuming mother of two has also achieved many other firsts, including being the first female dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Mauritius.

In 2007, she received the prestigious ‘L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award’ for her research on the exploration and analysis of plants from Mauritius and their bio-medical applications.

She later created the first full inventory of medicinal and aromatic plants found in Mauritius and the neighbouring island of Rodrigues. Her analysis of the antibacterial and antifungal properties of plants from Mauritius is paving the way for their use as safe and effective alternatives to commercial medicines.

Dr Gurib-Fakim has authored and co-edited over 28 books, journals and research papers on biodiversity conservation and sustainable development and has won multiple further awards. That alone should inspire a generation of future African women scientists.

“There aren’t enough women and girls taking up the sciences; the Women in Science Exchange will help girls to go into the field.”

And inspire is what she did as keynote speaker and Lifetime Achievement awardee at the Centre for Pharmaceutical Advancement and Training (CePAT) Honours, held in Accra, Ghana, earlier this year. Supported by the US Pharmacopeial Convention, CePAT also used the occasion to launch its first-ever Women in Science Exchange (WISE).

This programme aims at helping female students enter science and pharmaceutical career paths, particularly in drug regulation and manufacturing.

“There aren’t enough women and girls taking up the sciences; the

44  New African august/september 2017

WISE programme is such a great initiative and will help in building the confidence of young women and girls to go into the field… we need to see more girls in the sciences,” she told New African.

She based the theme of her keynote speech, ‘Traditional Medicines: The need for standards and their role in advancing Africa’s economy’, on an area close to her heart and work.

“I have spent a significant part of my professional life teaching, advocating and championing initiatives to modernise our traditional medicines’ manufacture and use. As scientists and researchers, it beholds us to ensure the quality and safety of our traditional medicines for the benefit of mankind.”

Here are some of the highlights of what she shared with us: Women in leadership positions, or the lack of “It is work in progress and it may take time. But things are happening; here I am as a woman President. But, I have been advocating that we need to have better representation and there is a need to fix what we are all talking about – leaky pipe syndrome – which loses a lot of women in the pipeline, instead of bringing them along into systems and institutions.

“But the onus is also on all Africans. People have to start asking the right questions.

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