‘Research should inform policy to benefit people’

By Adekunle Yusuf

Research should inform policy for the benefit of the common man, the Director of Research, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Department, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) Dr. Stella Smith, has said.

She spoke during the Humboldt College International Conference on Translational Research at NIMR, Lagos.

The conference, titled “From basic science to translational research: The journey so far in Nigeria,” was sponsored by the Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation, Germany.

“What the conference is about is from basic sciences to transnational research. In Nigeria, most of what we do is research that stays in the laboratory and we are thinking that after laboratory, what next? People just publish research for promotion, but how many go beyond doing that for promotion to inform policy, affect the common man in Nigeria, in terms of their health, everyday life, and social life? What are those researches that people are doing that would affect the lives of the generality of the population of Nigeria? That is what the basic idea of the conference is all about,” she said.

Smith identified challenges affecting translational research in the country, including inadequate funding, environment conditions, scientific and cultural conditions.

“For example, you want to conduct a research in an area that people think it is a taboo for you to do. Those are some of the challenges,” she said.

She listed funding, advocacy, networking and collaboration as some of the steps required to tackle the challenges affecting translational research.

“The government has a role to play in terms of funding, but we only get finds from international agencies. These kinds of funding improve general quality of research in our laboratories and government has a role to play in funding research in Nigeria because without research there is no development in any nation and any society,” she added.

According to NIMR Director-General, Prof. Babatunde Salako, research achieves its purpose when it could lead to useful government policies or  change a certain situation within the medical  system.

“The challenges remain the same, but the most important is creating the enabling environment for research generally in Nigeria. We need to improve the research environment and that included the laboratories that most of the basic medical scientists use, availability of equipment and electricity and water. Those are things that can improve research environment.

‘’Of recent, we are also talking about providing national bio-repository for samples and data because research has gone beyond a one-person idea.

“These days, consortiums are formed and work in collaboration with others and that generates a lot more data and we are all about managing big data. So, we require to have bio-repository where samples can be stored for future research beyond the current ones that took the samples. So, that kind of environment can be provided. It is just to say in designing their research, they should make it a translational one, a research that will impact on the health system of the nation, treatment methods, new diagnostic methods, policies for government so that these things can become very useful to the general population,” Salako said.

Commissioner for Health in Lagos State, Prof. Akin Abayomi, said translational research means applying basic scientific research to its end product. Research must impact the society, he explained.

Abayomi, a professor of Haematopathology, said: “We have a reasonable amount of basic scientists in Nigeria, but when they have their discoveries, that’s just the beginning of the process. That discovery really needs to go through innovation pipeline and that translates into a tangible product, either a drug or device, or some kind of policy that transforms and translates the impact to the community. So, in many parts of Africa, translational research is very rudimentary and very behind the curve because it requires a lot of funding to take an idea through a series of tests to determine whether it is going to have an impact, whether it is going to change the way we manage certain conditions, whether it is going to make life easier.