Today's Pick: Can biotech save democracy in Africa?

You might expect that the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa would cause wide-ranging social disruptions, but the undermining of democracy is a less than obvious one. This was the subject of a recent conference put on by the Institute for Democracy in South Africa. Interestingly enough, it concluded that many scholars’ “apocalyptic” predictions of endemic political instability and uncontrollable crime will not pan out. The problem, it seems, is the high attrition rate of politicians and bureaucrats, which disrupts the electoral process and the proper functioning of government institutions.

The flip-side of this conclusion begs the question: can biotech innovations help save democracy in Africa?

See more: “HIV/AIDS threatens the health of African democracies”