The Vice Chancellor of Cambridge University says the social sciences have an important role to play in society, especially through multidisciplinary research.

A veterinary study on the transmission of zoonotic viruses via bats in Ghana has benefited from sociological research on the link between poverty and the human consumption of bats.

Another study in Uganda examined a new urban language used by youth in Kampala, which is a mix of African languages, English and Jamaican patois. HIV prevention campaigns were found to be ineffective because they did not use these languages and young people could relate to the messages.

Source: SciDevNet.