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Written by Executive Director, SSA   
Friday, 20 August 2004

The Africa Science News Service (ASNS), published by a team of enterprising science journalists who are based in Nairobi, Kenya.

Their business arm that manages accounts and legal issues is called The Services in Scientific Work in Africa (SSA), which legally is the publisher of ASNS, a leading online popular science magazine featuring articles on important breakthroughs, the latest science news, facts and a whole lot more science-related content.

The website began in 2004 and is geared to providing apt, reliable and authoritative information about science and technology from Africa by Africa based reporters with an African eye.

Africa Science News Service has grown over the years and now attracts a large science-minded audience of around 1.4million people each month.   

Its users are from a variety of backgrounds and include students, scientists, science professionals plus a lot of intellectually inquisitive people who are simply interested in how the universe works.   

The site offers a uniquely inclusive approach to science: while maintaining high levels of editorial professionalism our content is written so that all can understand, and embraces a very broad range of subjects from the mainstream to the fringes.

We aim to help both government policy makers, individuals and organisations within Africa make informed decisions about how science and technology can improve economic and social development.

Our activities

Our free-access website provides news, views and information on science, technology from around Africa.

In addition, we are committed to provide:

Science communication research services,

Event organizing services,

Writing advertorial and

Running Publicity Services for Scientific institutions and individuals across Africa.

We intend to offer frequent training opportunities to young and budding journalists interested in writing science and budding scientists interested in communicating scientific research.

Mission Statement

The goal of ASNS is to be a leader in science and technology communicators offering alternative perspectives to development.

We seek to achieve this by enhancing the provision of reliable and authoritative information on such issues, in particular by operating a free-access news, views and analysis about science and technology from across Africa.

We are committed to:

While we invite donations and other financial support to help us realize our mission of helping popularize science in Africa, we are however committed to

  Editorial independence;

·                                 Free access;

·                                 Constructive dialogue on science and technology-related issues; and Implementing these commitments includes:

·                                 i) Providing perspectives and information of particular relevance to Africa,

·                                 ii) Addressing the information needs of a range of communities, including scientists, journalists, decision makers, and those working in non-governmental organisations and international aid agencies operating in Africa;

·                                 iii) Presenting information about scientific and technological activity in Africa to a global readership;

·                                 iv) Covering a broad range of scientific and technological disciplines relevant to social and economic development and related policy issues;

·                                 v) Supporting capacity building for science communication in Africa.                 


Contact the publishers:

Services in Scientific Work in Africa,

Kampus Towers, 5th Floor,

Inside Syagga Associates,

P.O. Box 2141-00100, 

Nairobi, Kenya

TeL: +254-020-2051330

Fax: +254-020-240104

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

SKYPE: africa.science

Last Updated ( Thursday, 17 September 2009 )
 

Mining for gold, diamonds, and precious minerals is dangerous work, but in sub-Saharan Africa the activity could be driving an entire continent’s tuberculosis epidemic, a new Oxford-led study has found. Researchers estimate that the mining industry in Africa annually churns out as many as 760,000 new cases of tuberculosis each year, due to factors such as silica dust in mines, crowded working and living conditions, and the spread of HIV.

A recent CIMMYT study found that restrictive national policies, lack of credit opportunities, inadequate seed production capacities, insufficient numbers of recently released public sector varieties, and challenging marketing situations were the main reasons why maize seed sector growth is slow in many African countries

Scientists at the University of Glasgow are embarking on a project to try to establish how and when Southern Africa obtained its unusually high elevation – which might also explain a key event in human evolution.

World Bank PresidentA World Bank report launched today in Mexico, highlights how the AIDS epidemic and environment are rapidly evolving and emphasizes the need for a localized, evidence-informed response to HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Africa itself should invest in transgenic crops, according to Robert Paarlberg, Associate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University.

Against the background of an International Tobacco Growers Association meeting to discuss issues related to tobacco and marketing, in Salima, Malawi, the Africa Tobacco Control Regional Initiative (ATCRI) has urged the Malawian governments to take urgent action in protecting the lives of its citizens from tobacco health risks.

Preliminary results from a recent survey conducted in the West African state of Sierra Leone by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) after a countrywide Red Cross distribution of mosquito nets in November 2006 shows that there is a 23 % increase in net usage following a single visit by a community-based volunteer to hang and promote net usage.