Much innovation has taken place in the development of medical schools and licensure exam processes across the African continent. Still, little attention has been paid to education that enables the multidisciplinary, critical thinking needed to understand and help shape the larger social systems in which health care is delivered. Although more than half of medical schools in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States offer at least one medical humanities course, this is less common in Africa. We report on (...) the “liberal arts approach” to medical curricula undertaken by the University of Global Health Equity beginning in 2019. The first six-month semester of the curriculum, called Foundations in Social Medicine, includes courses in critical thinking and communication, African history and global political economy, medical anthropology and social medicine, psychology and health, gender and social justice, information technology and health, and community-based training. Additionally, an inquiry-based pedagogy with relatively small classes is featured within an overall institutional culture that emphasizes health equity. We identify key competencies for physicians interested in pursuing global health equity and how such competencies relate to liberal arts integration into the African medical school curriculum and pedagogical approach. We conclude with a call for a research agenda that can better evaluate the impact of such innovations on physicians’ education and subsequent practices. (shrink)

In _Locating Politics in Ethiopia's Irreecha Ritual_ Serawit Bekele Debele gives an account of politics and political processes in Ethiopia as manifested in Irreecha celebrations over the years.

Unlike in Western countries, scholars and the Chinese government pay less attention to the role of extracurricular activities in fostering children’s cognitive and non-cognitive well-being. Accordingly, essential ECAs such as visual arts programs are serviced by expensive privately owned schools, creating social injustice. The primary aim of the current study is to examine whether children benefit from ECAs if parental support and guidance for managing time spent on ECAs and academics exist based on the threshold model. The study comprised over (...) 2,400 primary school students in one Chinese province and considered the SES of the area. Surprisingly, the present study’s findings illustrate that contemporary Chinese parents differ from traditionally aggressive and overbearing parents who do not value their children’s interests. However, the current study finding suggested that children’s participation in out-of-school visual art activities doesn’t have a substantial value in promoting children’s academic performance in the face of genuine interest and supportive parenting, which negates the threshold model. (shrink)

The notion of decolonisation implies the existence of a territory, entity, structure, or system which has previously been colonised by exogenous forces and thus needs to be liberated. In most African countries, the discourses of decolonisation of higher education emanate from the shared experience of imposed European colonisation that perpetuated epistemic violence on African indigenous knowledge systems. Thus, a lived experience of colonialism became a foundation for the decolonisation debates imagining and aspiring to alternative and inclusive futures. This point of (...) departure yet makes the discussion of decolonisation as the subject of only those who have had colonial experiences – an event of interruption of a specific process considered colonial and therefore, undesirable. This approach conceptualises decolonisation in a narrow sense as a linear process with a distinct historical beginning, which is colonial, and an envisaged liberating decolonial end. This article critically challenges this dominant narrative of decolonisation and reconceptualises it as a complex, dynamic, and lifelong process of re-centring. It argues that decolonisation, as a concept in higher education, goes beyond a pre-existing colonial foundation. Taking the context of Ethiopia, a country that remained independent during the European colonisation of Africa, this article aims at reconceptualising the notion of decolonisation of higher education in a space that has never been colonised. The article discusses epistemological challenges of the Ethiopian higher education system and provides a proactive alternative future departing from monolithic epistemic tradition to a pluralistic approach that accommodates diverse structures of knowledge. (shrink)

The letter deals with the establishing and development of philosophical education in the Department of Philosophy of Addis Ababa University. It explores the focus of philosophical education since its inception, unravelling a trajectory that began with a few courses and has now reached a level where a PhD in teaching is offered and important research undertaken. It explains how certain philosophical issues have influenced the evolution of philosophical education in Ethiopia. The dynamics of philosophical education in Ethiopia is constituted by (...) the debate on the nature and task of philosophy. This highlights a healthy and fruitful debate by students of philosophy pointing out that philosophy can be contextualised to enlighten us on social and moral questions without, of course, forgetting the traditional and main branches of philosophy. (shrink)

Some of the African universities were established just over half a century ago, the overwhelming majority of them coming into being after independence. They came into being largely not on the basis of the desire of the African peoples but rather to serve a purpose related to colonialism. Even when this was not the purpose, the way they were established and organized, i. e. irrelevant curricula biased against the local knowledge and culture and an equally biased faculty made higher education (...) in Africa into a white elephant. Lack of resources and irrelevance of curricula did not enable the African university to play the role that is expected of it. The developments since the 1980s show the dependence of African universities. The so‐called reforms of the World Bank and Co. are meant to reduce African universities to vocational schools. Taking these into account the paper argues that the African university must try to recreate itself by overcoming extraversion and restructuring itself in such a way that it is ready to use universal knowledge without undermining indigenous knowledge. (shrink)

A critical element in building stronger health systems involves strengthening good governance to build capacity for transparent and fair health planning and priority setting. Over the past 20 years, the ethical framework Accountability for Reasonableness has been a prominent conceptual guide in strengthening fair and legitimate processes of health decision-making. While many of the principles embedded within the framework are congruent with Western conceptualizations of what constitutes procedural fairness, there is a paucity in the literature that captures the degree of (...) resonance between these principles and the views of decision makers from non-Western settings; particularly in Africa, where many countries have only recently, within the last 20-30 years, become more democratic. This paper contributes to the ethics literature by examining how Ethiopian decision makers conceptualize fair and legitimate health decision-making, and reflects on the degree of conceptual resonance between these views and the principles embedded in A4R. A qualitative case study approach from three districts in Ethiopia was undertaken. Fifty-eight decision makers from district, regional, zonal, and national levels were interviewed to describe their conceptualization of fairness and legitimacy in the district health planning process. Findings revealed that Ethiopians have a broad conception of fairness and legitimacy that while congruent with procedural justice, also aligned with principles of distributive and organizational justice. Researchers and practitioners seeking to strengthen procedural fairness in health priority setting must therefore recognize the significance of other philosophical dimensions influencing how fairness and legitimacy of health decision-making are constructed within the Ethiopian setting. (shrink)

ABSTRACTThe study examined the attributes of sexual violence against girls and young women with disabilities in the northern part of Ethiopia. In order to reach the proposed objective, six in-depth...

IntroductionInternet addiction is characterized by excessive and uncontrolled use of the internet affecting everyday life. Adolescents are the primary risk group for internet addiction. Data on internet addiction is lacking in Africa. Thus, this review aimed to determine the pooled prevalence of internet addiction and its associated factors among high school and university students in Africa.MethodsA comprehensive literature search was conducted using electronic databases to locate potential studies. Heterogeneity between studies was checked using Cochrane Q test statistics and I2 test (...) statistics and small-study effects were checked using Egger's statistical test at a 5% significance level. A sensitivity analysis was performed. A random-effects model was employed to estimate the pooled prevalence and associated factors of internet addiction among students. The primary outcome of measure of this review was the prevalence of internet addiction and the secondary outcome of measures are the factors associated with internet addiction.ResultsA total of 5,562 studies were identified among the five databases. Of these, 28 studies from 10 countries with 14,946 high school and university students were included in this review. The overall pooled prevalence of internet addiction among the students was 34.53% [95% Confidence Interval : 26.83, 42.23, I2 = 99.20%]. Male sex [Pooled Odds Ratio = 1.92, 95% CI:1.43, 2.57 I2 = 0.00], urban residence, and duration of daily internet use for more than 4 h (POR = 2.25, 95% CI:1.20, 4.21, I2 = 0.00%, were significantly associated with internet addiction among adolescents.ConclusionAlmost one-third of university and high school students in Africa are addicted to the internet. Male students, those from urban areas, and those who use the internet for more than 4 h per day have higher odds of internet addiction. Thus, we recommend that health planners and policymakers pay attention to the use of the internet and internet addiction in Africa. (shrink)

The role of African higher education institutions has been embedded within the socio-economic and historical contexts of the continent. Understanding the nature of African universities, their roles in African societies, and their place in the global knowledge system demands comprehensive reflection of the historical trajectories of the sector itself. In order to re-imagine the future of African higher education, it is important not only to reconstruct the past by uncovering facts but also to deconstruct it by challenging the nature of (...) established truth on which historical evidences are created. This article challenges and deconstructs dominant narratives on the historical trajectories and configurations of progress in African higher education systems. The article provides a thorough analysis of major trends, developments and challenges that the sector has been facing through time with the intention of reimaging and constructing the notion of a new or alternative future that addresses the recurrent challenges of the sector. The notion of creating the new African university carries a fundamental inquiry asking: ‘What it means to be an African university?’ ‘What role do they play in African societies?’ and ‘How do African institutions manage to strike a balance between the individual, social and corporate responsibilities interacting with their stakeholders?’ This article interrogates the intricate pattern of interactions among African societies and higher education institutions, reflecting on historical trends and critical challenges facing the sector that have been negatively impacting the pace of realising the desired future. (shrink)

This essay proposes African-based ethical solutions to profound human problems and a working African model to address those problems. The model promotes sustainability through advanced agroecological and information communication technologies. The essay’s first section reviews the ethical ground of that model in the work of the Senegalese scholar, Cheikh Anta Diop. The essay’s second section examines an applied African model for translating African ethical speculation into practice. Deeply immersed in European and African ethics, Godfrey Nzamujo developed the Songhaï Centers to (...) solve the problem of rural poverty in seventeen African countries. Harnessing advanced technologies within a holistic agroecological ecosystem, Nzamujo’s villages furnish education spanning the fields of ethics, information communication technology, microbiology, international development, and mechanical, electrical, civil and biological engineering in a community-based and centered development enterprise. The essay proposes a global consortium of ecovillages based on Nzamujo’s model. The final section explores funding methods for the consortium. The conclusion contemplates a return to Africa to supplement environmental ethics that enhance life’s future on earth. (shrink)

Peer review is a widely accepted instrument for raising the quality of science. Peer review limits the enormous unstructured influx of information and the sheer amount of dubious data, which in its absence would plunge science into chaos. In particular, peer review offers the benefit of eliminating papers that suffer from poor craftsmanship or methodological shortcomings, especially in the experimental sciences. However, we believe that peer review is not always appropriate for the evaluation of controversial hypothetical science. We argue that (...) the process of peer review can be prone to bias towards ideas that affirm the prior convictions of reviewers and against innovation and radical new ideas. Innovative hypotheses are thus highly vulnerable to being “filtered out” or made to accord with conventional wisdom by the peer review process. Consequently, having introduced peer review, the Elsevier journal Medical Hypotheses may be unable to continue its tradition as a radical journal allowing discussion of improbable or unconventional ideas. Hence we conclude by asking the publisher to consider re-introducing the system of editorial review to Medical Hypotheses. (shrink)

Élaborés dans les années 1950-1960 par les théoriciens du développement, étoffés par la vague féministe des années 1970 et conceptualisés par les tiers mondistes des années 1980, les thèmes des femmes et du développement concentrent aujourd'hui l'attention des chercheurs et des activistes. Thèmes liés, surtout quand on évoque l'Afrique, leur association permet de donner un relief, qu'on leur a souvent refusé, aux femmes africaines sans voix, colporteuses et revendeuses dans les marchés...