International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Support Helps to Expand Contribution of Nuclear Technology to Sustainable Development in Eswatini

Since becoming a Member State of the IAEA in 2013, the Kingdom of Eswatini has made measurable progress towards the achievement of its national development objectives, as well as those established in the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, through continuous engagement with the Agency’s technical cooperation (TC) programme. Training courses, expert missions and equipment procurements organized in the last five years have already yielded benefits in the production of new crop varieties and the management of invasive pests in Eswatini, while preparing for the establishment of the country’s first radiotherapy centre in Manzini, the commercial capital of the Kingdom.     

On 5 September, His Royal Highness Lonkhokhela, Prince of the Kingdom of Eswatini, added his signature to Eswatini’s second Country Programme Framework (CPF) with the IAEA, a document which will inform and guide the Kingdom’s collaboration with the Agency’s TC programme for the next five years, from 2024 to 2029.

“This Framework will be the basis for the technical cooperation between Eswatini and the IAEA, and for the latter’s assistance to the Kingdom’s developmental needs in various fields, including livestock development, human health in cancer treatment and radiotherapy, water resource management, and more,” explained HRH Lonkhokhela, acting in his capacity as the country’s Minister of Natural Resources and Energy, during the ceremony to launch the new CPF.

Enhancing health outcomes

In the area of human health—one of six national priorities identified by Eswatini’s Country Programme Framework—government decision-makers have focussed their efforts on the development of capacities for the timely diagnosis, effective management and treatment of cancers and other non-communicable diseases. Among its population of 1.2 million, Eswatini registers approximately 1 100 new cancer cases each year and nearly 700 deaths annually. With cervical cancer representing close to 40 per cent of all diagnoses, the country’s cancer burden falls disproportionately on women, who also represent 66.8 per cent of cancer deaths.

On 5 August, a team of experts from the IAEA, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) met with Emaswati counterparts to formally launch an imPACT Review of the country’s cancer treatment capacities. The first imPACT mission conducted in Eswatini was launched in 2017 and led to the development of a cancer registry—a national information database used to centralize information about cancer patients, their initial treatment and eventual outcomes.  As part of the Rays of Hope initiative, the IAEA  is also supporting the development of Eswatini’s bankable document, which identify for donors the necessary safety infrastructure, training and equipment needed for the establishment of Eswatini’s first radiotherapy centre—currently under construction in the Manzini area.

Finally, to ensure that Eswatini’s available resources are leveraged economically, specialists from the Agency’s Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy (PACT) and from the WHO worked closely with Emaswati counterparts through a national TC project[1] to prepare and finalize a national cancer control programme (NCCP).

Ensuring safety first

During an August 2024 visit to Eswatini, IAEA staff met with members of the Liswati Parliamentary Committee on Health and Social Welfare to highlight the need for robust nuclear regulatory infrastructure before the country can extract the full benefits of nuclear science and technology. The first step toward a comprehensive national safety scheme is the promulgation of a national nuclear radiation safety law.

“Before engaging fully with the technical cooperation programme, it is a requirement to have a legal framework which governs the use of radioactive sources and the application of nuclear technology,” explained Shaukat Abdulrazak, IAEA Director of the TC Division for Africa. “We commend the progress made so far with the Kingdom’s nuclear and radiation safety bill and look forward to its adoption, which would pave the way for establishment of national regulatory body.”

Developed with support delivered through the IAEA’s technical cooperation and legislative assistance programmes, Eswatini’s National Nuclear Radiation Safety Act will provide a legal framework covering all areas related to nuclear safety and security, nuclear energy and applications, as well as civil liabilities. The Act has proceeded through parliamentary readings in both houses, before being approved in the lower chamber of Eswatini’s legislature, the House of Assembly, with a vote by the Senate anticipated before its recess at the end of 2024.

Developing More Resilient Crop Varieties

“Climate change is impacting food and nutritional security in Eswatini. Through capacity development in mutation and biotechnologies, it is expected that future nutritious and climate-adapted cowpea varieties will be developed, contributing to enhanced food security and resilience.” explained Isaac Kofi Bimpong, a Plant Breeder and Geneticist with the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre. “in Eswatini, one in five children under five suffer from stunting due to food insecurity, underscoring the urgent need for adaptive strategies.”

Mutation breeding offers a solution to address these challenges and to promote food and nutritional security in Eswatini. By organizing training courses and fellowships at the Agency’s Seibersdorf Laboratories and other global institutions, the IAEA, through the joint FAO/IAEA Centre, played a vital role in the establishment of a national mutation breeding programme, which aims to develop produce new, drought-tolerant strains of cowpea. Through a series of national TC projects [2], the Agency has procured laboratory, field and screenhouse facility equipment, which is essential for carrying out research, development and tests on new crop varieties, and enabling hands-on training for local agricultural professionals.

“These extensive IAEA initiatives, in cooperation with FAO, are helping Eswatini establish a resilient agricultural system that can handle present problems and future uncertainty,” concluded Bimpong.

Suppressing Pests, Promoting Food Production

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that up to 40 per cent of global crop production is lost annually due to plant pests and diseases. In the Kingdom of Eswatini, where close to 40 per cent of the economy relies on the agriculture sector, the threats posed by invasive pests risk not only food security, but the livelihoods of thousands.   

The false codling moth is one such pest and  poses a substantial phytosanitary risk to Eswatini’s fruit exports—particularly citrus—to the European, Asian and US markets.

Although the pest has been managed to some extent through integrated control tactics such as insecticides, mating disruption, and orchard sanitation, the IAEA, through the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre, is helping to provide a  long-term, sustainable solution, the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), an environmentally friendly mitigation strategy to manage the false codling moth.

To address these threats to the livelihoods and health of Eswatini farmers and consumers, TC support was organized for the application of the SIT by experts in Eswatini to suppress and manage the false codling moth population. As a first step towards their area-wide integrated pest management, an expert mission was organized to make technical feasibility study and help on false codling moth monitoring and surveillance network for baseline data collection.

IAEA experts are now working with counterparts in Eswatini to design a national programme for the 2025-2026 TC cycle which will focus on building atop these accomplishments, in alignment with the priority areas identified by the Kingdom’s national development plan. These priorities include the development of a radiotherapy facility, enhancing their resilience to climate change, improved capacities for area-wide integrated pest management and water resource management.

This article covers one of the many topics that will be discussed during the 2024 Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Science, Technology and Applications and the Technical Cooperation Programme. For more information about this conference, please go here.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).