Our focus for 2019 will be Global Outreach. Given our present moment, with crises of health brought about by climate change, political upheaval, social injustice, and the straining of public health systems, we must seek international and cross-cultural dialogue. Global problems need global communication and an understanding that those most likely to be affected by crisis—those most vulnerable to the exigencies of system failure—are also the least like to be heard.

As the beginning of this broader conversation, we are thrilled to introduce the final issue of 2018: Medical and Health Humanities in Africa – Inclusion, Access, and Social Justice. Much of the issue will feature South Africa, but additional material has sought to contextualize this in countries of the southern region. In its breadth and depth of reflection this issue seeks to share the unique growth of the medical humanities among African nations. It also reaches across all three MH platforms, the academic journal, our critically important MH blog, and the podcast (soon to be re-launched as a monthly feature in January). By these means, contributors expand the reach and the impact for a variety of audiences, academic, clinical, and public. Keep watching for features and links; the official TOC will drop in the first or second week of December and can be reached by headed to https://mh.bmj.com/. Additionally, at the very beginning of the month, the blog will feature the issue, its guest editors, and a podcast (preview here) with two of the three on what to expect in this excellent group of articles and features. The blog gets a little fancy, too, in that we will be presenting both audio and visual content as part of the issue. We can’t wait to share with you!

KEY THEMES:

Biomedicine | Social Justice | Disability | Toxins and Poison | HIV | Tuberculosis | Pharmaceuticals | Medical Anthropology | Pedagogy