Mariam Mayet - Q18. The future of African Governance of Technologies Like Gene Drives

Mariam Mayet is the Executive Director of the African Centre for Biodiversity, based in Johannesburg. In April 2022 ACB published an investigation and analysis of the financial imperatives underpinning Target Malaria's gene drive mosquito project in Burkina Faso and the way in which financial investments in malaria were being driven by rogue capital looking to make money, at the expense of genuine public health policies in Africa which might effectively relieve the burden and real scourge of malaria. Where public health policies would focus on effective healthcare systems and environmental hygiene, rogue capital driven investments in malaria aim at patentable products mainly in the field of vector control, like pesticides, insecticide treated bed nets and more recently risky experiments with GM and gene drive mosquitoes, with malaria control product development becoming a profitable financial market for investors, at the expense of African lives. Interviewed at Mahatma Gandhi's house in Johannesburg, Satyagraha House, Mariam asks why African governments have become so deeply indebted that they are unable to deliver basic public health for their populations, and why Africans should continue to suffer from malaria while being trapped in a treadmill of pesticide resistance and dependency on patented vector-control products. The most in-depth analysis of the financial dynamics underpinning Target Malaria's gene drive mosquito project to date, the African Centre for Biodiversity's report is a major contribution to the debate around gene drives. See: "The Financialisation of Malaria in Africa: Burkina Faso, Rogue Capital & GM / Gene Drive Mosquitoes" https://acbio.org.za/corporate....-expansion/financial