Freedom of speech and public interest, not allegiance, should underpin science advisement to government
Date
2020
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Health & Medical Publishing Group
Abstract
South Africa (SA) is Africa’s science heavyweight, leading the continent in scientific output, and ranks in the top 40 globally in research productivity.[1-3] Not surprisingly, SA’s scientific and academic communities have become deeply involved in the country’s
response to COVID-19. Such involvement has included, among
others, clinical trials for drug therapies and vaccines, data analysis
tracking the evolution of the pandemic, provision of critical advisory
support to government policymaking on COVID-19 and on the
trade-offs between strategies to manage the pandemic and the
economic consequences thereof. This inevitably has led to the
participation of many of the country’s academics in ministerial
advisory committees. The most significant of these committees
has been Zweli Mkhize’s Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC)
on COVID-19, which involves leading biomedical scientists.[4]
Such participation exemplifies the notion of science solidarity and
participatory democracy.
Description
CITATION: Singh, J. A., Habib, A. & Jansen, J. 2020. Freedom of speech and public interest, not allegiance, should underpin science advisement to government. South African Medical Journal, 110(7), doi:10.7196/SAMJ.2020.v110i7.14958.
The original publication is available at http://www.samj.org.za
The original publication is available at http://www.samj.org.za
Keywords
COVID-19 (Disease) -- Public welfare, Freedom of speech
Citation
Singh, J. A., Habib, A. & Jansen, J. 2020. Freedom of speech and public interest, not allegiance, should underpin science advisement to government. South African Medical Journal, 110(7), doi:10.7196/SAMJ.2020.v110i7.14958.