Arabs Abroad: The Pharmacologist and the Scientist | Documentary

A Libyan pharmacologist treating HIV patients in South Africa and a Tunisian scientist purifying water in Malaysia.

This is the story of two world-renowned scientists who left their homelands of Libya and Tunisia and went on to achieve great success in South Africa and Malaysia.

Libyan pharmacologist Mohamed Irhuma studied in South Africa but faced a range of challenges when his home country went through its 2011 revolution. He’s achieved success in South African HIV AIDS pharmacology, including award-winning work on drug treatments.

Tunisian chemical engineer Mohamed Kheireddine Aroua is a world expert in material separation, inventing a life-changing water purification machine which benefits remote villages. Both stories illustrate some of the complexities of being an Arab abroad, and the journeys of two remarkable scientists.