In this article, with reference to Ghana and Zimbabwe, I explore the traditional African worldview, lifeworld, belief systems and ways of thinking and reasoning. This discourse captures the rich combination of spirituality, materiality and the social in a concept referred to here as Cosmovision. Nowadays this worldview co-exists with western worldviews and systems of thinking, in various shades...

EVIPNet (Evidence-Informed Policy Network) Africa—a network of World Health Organization (WHO)-sponsored knowledge-translation (KT) platforms in seven sub-Saharan African countries—was launched at a meeting in Brazzaville, Congo, in March 2006 (1;2). EVIPNet Africa can trace its origins to resolutions from both the Ministerial Summit on Health Research (November 2004) and the World Health Assem...

Introduction In 2008, the Global Health Research Initiative (GHRI) invited applications from teams of researchers and decision-makers who were interested in conducting research related to human resources for health and the implementation and use of integrated health information systems in Africa, with special attention to equity considerations. These thematic areas constituted the focus of the ...

BACKGROUND Out of 1.484 billion disability-adjusted life years lost globally in 2008, 369.1 million (25%) were lost in the WHO African Region. Despite the heavy disease burden, the majority of countries in the Region are not on track to achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDG) 4 (reducing child mortality), 5 (improving maternal health), and 6 (combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases). ...

There is limited information on national health expenditures, services, and outcomes in African countries during the 1990s. We intend to make statistical information available for national level comparisons. National level data were collected from numerous international databases, and supplemented by national household surveys and World Bank expenditure reviews. The results were tabulated and a...

Many older African American adults have inadequate health literacy and are more likely to have chronic illnesses needing medication therapy. African Americans continue to experience significant health disparities in the incidences of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. It was postulated that ethnic disparities in medication compliance are related to a dynamic interplay between low health liter...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the extent to which South African mental health research addresses priority issues. DESIGN Cross-sectional survey of conference presentations. SETTING The most recent conferences of the following professional societies: the Epidemiological Society of Southern Africa, the Psychological Society of South Africa, the Society of Psychiatrists of South Africa, and the Sou...