The Governance of Animal Care and Use for Scientific Purposes in Africa and the Middle East

Abstract

Animals are commonly used for scientific purposes in Africa and the Middle East. However, this field is often inadequately regulated, with many countries lacking national legislation, policies, or guidelines for the care and use of animals used for research, testing, or education. This results in an essentially uncontrolled system where scientific quality and animal wellbeing cannot robustly be guaranteed, which may hinder acceptance (i.e., publication) of results by the scientific community and limit public confidence. Though accepted international guidelines and best practice recommendations exist that could be adopted or adapted to meet local needs, the responsible conduct of research and animal welfare may not be prioritized in regions that are affected by instability, poverty, disease, or malnutrition. Some notable exceptions do, however, exist in individual countries or institutions where ethical review processes, oversight of animal health and welfare, the competence of personnel, and other scientific standards are appropriately regulated and implemented. These countries and institutions represent nodes of expertise that could act as platforms of support for surrounding regions in terms of the provision of education, training, and sharing of experience and resources. To make such regional capacity-strengthening efforts sustainable will require regional cooperation, the establishment of regional networks, harmonization of policies, pooled resources, and long-term investment in education, training, and infrastructure. An overarching system is needed to oversee the efficient promotion of scientific and ethical standards and the dissemination of information on laboratory animal science in Africa and the Middle East, while each country should remain able to maintain a system of oversight that reflects its own cultures, traditions, religions, laws, and regulations. This article provides an overview of the governance of the care and use of animals for scientific purposes in different regions of Africa and the Middle East as a foundation for coordinated future advancement.

Antimalarial Activity of Methanolic Extracts and Solvent Fractions of Combretum molle Leaves in Plasmodium berghei Infected Mice

“…This showed that a median lethal dose of 50% (LD 50 ) is larger than 2000mg/kg, which attests that plant products are frequently considered to be safe and have fewer adverse effects than synthetic ones. 37,38 However, species variations would limit such a clear-cut extrapolation of the findings of this study to humans. On subacute toxicity study of mice, there was a discount in mean weight of liver and kidneys.…”

“…The care and handling of mice were per international guidelines for the use and maintenance of experimental animals. 37,38 Chloroquine-sensitive malaria, P. berghei was obtained from EPHI in the traditional medicine research department Addis Ababa and transported by infecting the donor mice and maintained the parasite up to the actual procedure of the study.…”

“…The remaining 4 mice were dosed with methanolic crude extract of C. molle leaves at 2000mg/kg and followed for 14 days. [37][38][39]…”

In vivo antimalarial activity of the crude leaf extract of Combretum molle against Plasmodium berghei in mice

“…Before the experiment, they were acclimatized to the test environment for one week. The care and handling of mice were according 6 to international guidelines for the use and maintenance of experimental animals [32,33] . Chloroquine-sensitive malaria, P. berghei was obtained from EPHI in the traditional medicine research department Addis Ababa and transported by infecting the donor mice and maintained the parasite up to the main procedure of the study.…”

“…The animals were handled according to the governance of animal care and use for scientific purposes in Africa and the Middle East [33] . And the ethical clearance was requested and obtained from the Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, University of Gondar for the use of animals for experiment with Ref.…”