As the science adviser in South Africa, across the African continent and beyond, Professor Salim Abdool Karim captures what it was like to be catapulted into a prominent position at the front lines of the Covid-19 pandemic response in his book Standing Up for Science: A Voice of Reason.

Standing Up for Science is Professor Karim’s personal, behind-the-scenes experience of the first three years of the pandemic. It is an inspiring and informative account of the events that transpired in 2020 up to current day, and shares the ground-breaking and globally recognized achievements made through science in a battle against an overwhelming and terrible disease.  

No one anticipated the devastation and disruption Covid-19 would cause in communities and industries across the world, and there were many complexities and challenges, some concerning international co-operations integral to responding to the pandemic, as well as controversies in the science-to-policy processes to ensure the best decisions possible were being made. But with the guidance of leading experts like Professor Karim, science, and its power to help tackle some of the world’s biggest problems, proved the most valuable in helping steer the international response to Covid-19.

This is more than just a personal and captivating narrative about the events that transpired during and after the pandemic – the intricacies of translating science into policy; the international linkages and coordination of effective Covid response plans, and the important lessons learnt that will better prepare leaders and nations for future epidemics. Standing Up for Science is a stimulating read and ode to science from one of the world’s leading epidemiologists.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Salim S. Abdool Karim, FRS, is a South African clinical infectious diseases epidemiologist widely recognised for his scientific contributions in AIDS and Covid-19. He serves as a Special Adviser on pandemics to the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO). Abdool Karim is also the Director of the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) and CAPRISA Professor of Global Health at Columbia University, and an Adjunct Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Harvard University, Adjunct Professor of Medicine at Cornell University and Pro Vice-Chancellor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He is a Vice-President of the International Science Council and serves as a member of the WHO Science Council and the Advisory Board of Physicians for Human Rights, and Abdool Karim is a Board member of the New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet Global Health and The Lancet HIV. He is a member of the US National Academy of Medicine and The World Academy of Science, and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS).

Standing Up for Science: A Voice of Reason is published by Pan Macmillan South Africa