This piece is a response to a very interesting article by Jean-Jacques Fournié and colleagues1 in the November issue of Nature Reviews Immunology. I must congratulate the authors for highlighting the problems of learning immunology in the developing world. Being a teacher of immunology in the developing world myself, I would like to express my feelings and opinion on how immunologists in the developed world could help those in the developing world strengthen immunology as a distinct discipline.

Modern immunology relies heavily on modern molecular cell biology approaches to understanding the features and functions of the immune system of humans and other animals. Basic immunology hypotheses are more often than not tested by experimentation that requires sophisticated and costly equipment and reagents. Throughout history, concepts and techniques in immunology have been developed almost entirely in the developed world. There is little, if any, original contribution towards the progress of immunology from immunologists in the developing world.

The constraints on promoting immunology learning that were highlighted by the authors are valid, but the solutions suggested are only partly remedial. It was rightly pointed out that immunology in the developing world has been pursued particularly because of its importance to applications in the fields of vaccine development, clinical medicine and serodiagnosis. Most people in developing countries, including policy planners, bureaucrats and the public at large, have a deep-rooted belief that there is no clear guarantee of direct economic returns from the pursuit of basic research, including basic immunology. Such a belief is prohibitive for allocation of funds for basic research in general. And most immunology research in the developing world is undertaken in the allied disciplines of microbiology, pathology, clinical medicine, biochemistry, molecular cell biology and biotechnology. Recently, immunology has been overshadowed by biotechnology in the developing world, and basic immunology is being relegated to a very insignificant position. Few independent departments and institutes are exclusively devoted to teaching and research in immunology. An interdisciplinary approach to solving problems with limited resources and established scientific methodologies is often the belief in most developing countries.

An enigma about immunology in the developing world is that although immunological principles and methodologies provide fundamental support to research in various disciplines of the life sciences, the education planners have not felt the need to strengthen it as a distinct discipline. It could be because we are constrained to be content with the fragmentary knowledge of immunology transferred from the developed world to harvest its fruits from time to time, and basic research has never been a priority in the developing world. Therefore, it is almost certain that the emergence of new concepts in immunology and the development of immunological techniques will not to occur in the developing world under the prevailing circumstances. However, in my opinion, strengthening of immunology in the developing countries in terms of the wealth of knowledge, infrastructure and trained personnel will be possible with the adoption or introduction of the following:·

  • Opening of separate departments of immunology in all universities that will be staffed by trained immunologists after appropriate infrastructure development.

  • Sufficient funding for continuous supplies, and maintenance and timely modernization of infrastructure.

  • Free access to immunology literature,.

  • Frequent visits of immunologists from developed countries to help establish immunology disciplines in the developing world.

  • Initiating international collaborative research projects.

Having removed all constraints, the success of such attempts at promoting the learning of immunology in developing countries must then be gauged in terms of their direct contribution to building modern concepts and developing new techniques. By developing mutual trust that transcends present-day confusion and the complexities of the intellectual property rights issues, the developing world might together with the developed world bring advances in our knowledge of immunology, solve the immunological problems and benefit humanity!