Pharmaceuticals and Modern Statecraft in South Africa: The Cases of Opium Thalidomide and Contraception

by Julie Parle, Rebecca Hodes and Thembisa Waetjen In this audio clip, Thembisa Waetjen and Rebecca Hodes discuss their article, co-authored with Julie Parle, which explores a century of pharmaceutical politics through a close historical account of three medicaments. In African contexts, historical research necessarily engages with experiences of colonisation/decolonisation, which have shaped local and […]

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Music Composition to Explore Delirium in Hospital: A Johannesburg-Based Study

by Victoria Hume For the last few years I’ve been writing music about delirium – a state often induced by being in hospital and which can be characterised by paranoia, delusion and hallucination. It is immensely common, with a documented prevalence of around 20% in ‘normal’ care[1][2] rising to 87% peak incidence in intensive care.[3][4] […]

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Reflections on a Field Across Time and Space: The Emergent Medical and Health Humanities in South Africa

by Victoria Hume and Megan Wainwright In this podcast co-authors Victoria Hume and Megan Wainwright introduce themselves and their article. Both have been involved with medical humanities and related fields in the UK and moved to South Africa in 2014 where they became members of what would eventually become the emergent Medical and Health Humanities […]

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Critical Orientations for Humanising Health Sciences Education in South Africa

by Berna Gerber, Michelle Pentecost, Megan Wainwright and Thomas Cousins In this article the authors argue that the curricula of health professions degree programmes in South Africa should be ‘humanised’ and ‘decolonised’. Curricular integration is used as the guiding framework. With the term integration we are referring to education that is based on a single […]

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A Reflection on the Past, Present and Future of Critical Health and Medical Humanities in Malawi

by Chisomo Kalinga On 24–26 August 2017, the University of Malawi’s Chancellor College in Zomba hosted its first international medical humanities conference, which was funded by the Wellcome Trust. It was an honour to be part of the team that helped support this initiative with our hosts. Scholars, creative practitioners, policymakers, NGOs and members of […]

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Medical and Health Humanities in Africa – Inclusion, Access, and Social Justice

Wamkelekile, karibu, welkom, and welcome to this special issue of the journal titled ‘Medical and Health Humanities in Africa – Inclusion, Access, and Social Justice’. Medical and Health Humanities (MHH) is a nascent field on the African continent; while the research, teaching, and practices of many people can be categorised as being MHH, it is […]

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A Turn Toward Global Outreach

What does it mean to ‘think culturally’ about medical and health humanities? Earlier this year, I attended the Oslo Cultural Crossings of Care conference, which intended to discuss health humanities ‘across boundaries.’ The aim was a noble one, and I think quite successful (we hope to share some more articles from that conference in the […]

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Special Issue Focus: Medical Humanities in Africa

‘Medical and Health Humanities in Africa – Inclusion, Access, and Social Justice’ “Wamkelekile, karibu, welkom, and welcome,” begins the introduction to this special issue, guest edited by Carla Tsampiras[1], Nolwazi Mkhwanazi[2], and Victoria Hume[3]. In this, our final issue of 2018, we are pleased to present works from parts of Africa on the subject of […]

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Using photography to enhance GP trainees’ reflective practice and professional development

Few would argue against the value of the ability to reflect upon one’s actions and one’s practice more broadly. According to photographic artist Rutherford, general practitioner Emer Forde, together with colleagues Jacqueline Priego-Hernandez, Aurelia Butcher and Clare Wedderburn, ‘reflection can foster professionalism, empathy and attitudinal changes’. In making this point, they highlight the Royal College […]

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