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Special Report FOCUS ON LEARNING: MAKING EDUCATION COUNT Hannah Simba A LOVE AFFAIR WITH RESEARCH For as long as Hannah Simba (below) can remember, she has had an inquisitive mind. This has led her along a rich academic pathway centred around research in the medical field – in this case, cancer. Born in Zimbabwe, Hannah Simba finished her high school studies before completing a BSc in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Kwa-Zulu in South Africa. She then took a degree in chemical pathology and a Master’s in environmental health. She is currently studying the role of genetic and environmental factors on oesophageal cancer for her PhD at Stellenbosch University (South Africa). It is one of the most aggressive cancers in the world, and also one of the least studied in Africa, whose countries are among the most affected by the disease, along with China. A passion for research Simba’s interest in medical research was sparked from an early age by her natural inquisitiveness. She says that she was always an observant person, “interested in how things work, and how nature works, how the body functions”. She remembers that she was encouraged to discover the world around her for herself. “Research is basically asking a question and getting an answer,” she explains. “That’s why I enjoy it so much today, because it answers a lot of the important questions that we have.” When it comes to role models, Simba immediately cites the influence of her mother, among the many women in her life that have inspired her. “She encouraged me to ask questions, and I think that definitely played an important role,” she says. “I think that’s also one of the issues that affect young girls, not having the support that you need, not only from your teachers, but the community around you. So I think that my mother definitely played a part in shaping my chosen field.” That field has been to join the pan-African quest to understand what Simba describes as “a very strange and peculiar distribution worldwide” of oesophageal cancer. Oesophageal cancer is a cancer that afflicts the digestive passage between mouth and stomach – the oesophagus is otherwise known as the ‘food pipe’ or gullet. “In Africa, it’s more prevalent in what’s called the ‘oesophageal cancer corridor’ that runs from Ethiopia down to Kenya, on the eastern side of Africa, down to southern Africa – Malawi, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. “Right now Malawi is actually number one in the incidence rate worldwide. We have still not really figured out why it’s more prevalent in that region.” Researchers like Simba are trying to define the root causes of this particular cancer and how it might be prevented or treated. There is speculation that a mostly maize-based and micronutrient-deficient diet may be a factor. “We need locally led research,” Simba says, “and that is what my research is trying to focus on, to identify the risk factors. So I’m looking at any genetic and environmental risk factors that are associated with oesophageal cancer. “And I’m also looking at geneenvironment interactions to see if they there are environmental factors that trigger a genetic risk. What that will give us is some risk factors that we can pass on to policy-makers or other stakeholders to say: ‘This is the risk factor, can we do something about it to ease the burden of disease in this population?’ “I think science plays an important role in Africa, and we need government to fund scientific research. We still lag behind in terms of scientific advancements and innovations. And we have a lot of potential and a lot of talent. We still need a lot more funding in Africa to drive that.” Looking to the future and how best to encourage more girls to go into science, she pays homage to those women that have come before and urges girls to take inspiration from them. “A lot of women that have come before you have done amazing work. So as the cliché goes, ‘You’re literally standing on the shoulders of giants’. And you just have to be to work hard and be brave - and, don’t doubt yourself. You can do it. There’s nothing that you can’t do!” The Covid-19 challenge Simba’s attitude towards the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak is stark, and mirrors that of many other minority groups across the world. “It’s evident,” she says, “that in South Africa those groups already suffering from discrimination are being increasingly exposed to the epidemic. “As a researcher, I realise that socio-economic status really affects not just Covid-19, but a lot of other diseases. People are at risk of a lot of other diseases because they live in close proximity to each other, and have a limited access to health care.”
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WOMEN IN SCIENCE & ENGINEERING Ibukunoluwa Adetutu Olajide ENGINEERING FOR A BETTER AFRICA Ibukun Olajide (below), a PhD student in Electrical Engineering and Information Engineering in Nigeria, is working on innovations to bring about cheaper and more widely accessible communication solutions. Ironically, when we contact Ibukun for this article, her internet is down. The generator at the faculty had switched off and the lack of power meant that the university’s broadband had stopped working. As a result, she had to use her own data bundle on our call. Ibukun is currently studying for a PhD at the University of Technology of Akure, the capital of Ondo State, 300km northeast of Lagos. Her research in the fields of engineering, she explains, will lead to the establishment of effi cient communication networks and the development of reliable power supplies – which the continent desperately needs to enable both the first and fourth industrial revolutions. Ibukun says she grew up in a family where academia was important. Her father, who had majored in chemistry and biology, was a school principal and her mother a med-lab scientist. Her parents, she explains, were therefore always encouraging her and provided her with advice and guidance. She chose engineering, in some ways, because she wanted to be different. “Everyone at school wanted to study medicine; even my uncle told me I should study medicine. But it was my father who said, you’re very adept with computers. But rather than study computer systems, I wanted to study something that was broader and hence I chose electrical engineering.” At first, she felt discouraged because the course content was very dense and she wasn’t sure whether she could cope. She suffered at first, she recounts, and was actually sick from “My father said, you’re very adept with computers. But rather than study computer systems, I wanted to study something that was broader and hence I chose electrical engineering.” overexerting herself. In a class of 100, Ibukun recalls, there were only about six women students. But she persevered and decided that if she was to succeed, she needed to be more assertive and play more of an active role in class. By the end of her course, it was she who was leading the group assignments and handling the practical work. “We need to give girls from a young age confidence,” she exclaims, “confidence to go on and study, to take part and to know that they are just as good.” One person to whom she credits her success is her supervisor in her final year, Professor Michael, who gave her the conviction in her ability. Another person, a mentor and a role model, is Dr (Mrs) Komolulu, a leading light in biochemistry in Nigeria. Universal access Africa has some of the highest internet and voice data costs in the world, both in real terms and as a percentage of per/ capita income. It is also concentrated in large urban areas. Optical communication is one of the solutions that is being developed to democratise data, by offering it cheaper and as part of solutions to deliver last-mile connectivity. One of the limiting factors of such a solution in Nigeria, explains Ibukun, is the weather: tropical conditions make this solution more challenging and this is what she is trying to overcome, as well as using predictive algorithms to optimise the use of the technology. Like many of her peers, accessing finance remains very diffi cult and a real constraint. As a L’Oreal– Unesco Women in Science laureate, she received a €10,000 grant but it’s a challenge to raise funding for research. She hopes that this research will help showcase proof-ofconcept and the value of research and she will be able to reach out to potential funders, from industry and elsewhere, to fund a lab, which she has set herself as a medium-term goal.

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Special Report

FOCUS ON LEARNING: MAKING EDUCATION COUNT

Hannah Simba A LOVE AFFAIR WITH RESEARCH For as long as Hannah Simba (below) can remember, she has had an inquisitive mind. This has led her along a rich academic pathway centred around research in the medical field – in this case, cancer.

Born in Zimbabwe, Hannah Simba finished her high school studies before completing a BSc in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Kwa-Zulu in South Africa. She then took a degree in chemical pathology and a Master’s in environmental health. She is currently studying the role of genetic and environmental factors on oesophageal cancer for her PhD at Stellenbosch University (South Africa). It is one of the most aggressive cancers in the world,

and also one of the least studied in Africa, whose countries are among the most affected by the disease, along with China. A passion for research Simba’s interest in medical research was sparked from an early age by her natural inquisitiveness. She says that she was always an observant person, “interested in how things work, and how nature works, how the body functions”.

She remembers that she was encouraged to discover the world around her for herself. “Research is basically asking a question and getting an answer,” she explains. “That’s why I enjoy it so much today, because it answers a lot of the important questions that we have.”

When it comes to role models, Simba immediately cites the influence of her mother, among the many women in her life that have inspired her. “She encouraged me to ask questions, and I think that definitely played an important role,” she says. “I think that’s also one of the issues that affect young girls, not having the support that you need, not only from your teachers, but the community around you. So I think that my mother definitely played a part in shaping my chosen field.”

That field has been to join the pan-African quest to understand what Simba describes as “a very strange and peculiar distribution worldwide” of oesophageal cancer.

Oesophageal cancer is a cancer that afflicts the digestive passage between mouth and stomach – the oesophagus is otherwise known as the ‘food pipe’ or gullet.

“In Africa, it’s more prevalent in what’s called the ‘oesophageal cancer corridor’ that runs from Ethiopia down to Kenya, on the eastern side of Africa, down to southern Africa – Malawi, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.

“Right now Malawi is actually number one in the incidence rate worldwide. We have still not really figured out why it’s more prevalent in that region.”

Researchers like Simba are trying to define the root causes of this particular cancer and how it might be prevented or treated. There is speculation that a mostly maize-based and micronutrient-deficient diet may be a factor.

“We need locally led research,” Simba says, “and that is what my research is trying to focus on, to identify the risk factors. So I’m looking at any genetic and environmental risk factors that are associated with oesophageal cancer.

“And I’m also looking at geneenvironment interactions to see if they there are environmental factors that trigger a genetic risk. What that will give us is some risk factors that we can pass on to policy-makers or other stakeholders to say: ‘This is the risk factor, can we do something about it to ease the burden of disease in this population?’

“I think science plays an important role in Africa, and we need government to fund scientific research. We still lag behind in terms of scientific advancements and innovations. And we have a lot of potential and a lot of talent. We still need a lot more funding in Africa to drive that.”

Looking to the future and how best to encourage more girls to go into science, she pays homage to those women that have come before and urges girls to take inspiration from them.

“A lot of women that have come before you have done amazing work. So as the cliché goes, ‘You’re literally standing on the shoulders of giants’. And you just have to be to work hard and be brave - and, don’t doubt yourself. You can do it. There’s nothing that you can’t do!” The Covid-19 challenge Simba’s attitude towards the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak is stark, and mirrors that of many other minority groups across the world. “It’s evident,” she says, “that in South Africa those groups already suffering from discrimination are being increasingly exposed to the epidemic.

“As a researcher, I realise that socio-economic status really affects not just Covid-19, but a lot of other diseases. People are at risk of a lot of other diseases because they live in close proximity to each other, and have a limited access to health care.”

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