title: An Education Strategy to Respond to Medicine Inequality in Africa.
abstract: People living in Africa face a heavy and wide-ranging burden of disease that takes an incalculable toll on social and economic development as well as shortening life expectancy (life expectancy in Tanzania is about 60 vs. about 80 in the United States and Europe. Further, the pharmaceutical market in developing countries is immature and may not support quality medicines. In many cases, a tender system is used, and medicines are bought by the government at the lowest price. In addition to access to medicines, a number of pharmaceutical sciences problems are apparent. The availability of infrastructure and especially standard instruments such as HPLC and X-ray diffraction is minimal. Additionally, there is an important need to increase access to advanced education for men and women in Africa, especially access to state-of-the-art scientific education. Utilizing the mandate of Nelson Mandela, Purdue's conceptual approach has been to utilize education to combat these problems.
authors.affiliation: Technology Leadership and Innovation and Agriculture and Biological Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907. Electronic address: sbyrn@pharmacy.purdue.edu.
authors.forename: Stephen R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Byrn
authors.affiliation: Kilimanjaro School of Pharmacy, Moshi, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Zita
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ekeocha
authors.affiliation: Technology Leadership and Innovation and Agriculture and Biological Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907.
authors.forename: Kari L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Clase
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa; D003906:Developing Countries / Q000191:economics; D014943:Global Health / Q000191:economics / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007753:Laboratories / Q000191:economics; D008017:Life Expectancy; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000191:economics / Q000600:supply & distribution; D012586:Science / Q000191:economics / Q000193:education*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013678:Technology, Pharmaceutical / Q000191:economics / Q000193:education*
chemical_list: D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations
keywords: X-ray powder diffractometry; disease states; global health; solid state; tablet