Gender equality in science, medicine, and global health: where are we at and why does it matter?

In this article, I consider the virtual absence of an African voice and perspective in global discourses of medical research ethics against the backdrop of the high burden of diseases and epidemics on the continent and the fact that the continent is actually the scene of numerous and sundry medical research studies. I consider some reasons for this state of affairs as well as how the situation might be redressed. Using examples from the HIV/AIDS and Ebola epidemics, I attempt to show that the marginalization of Africa in medical research and medical research ethics is deliberate rather than accidental. It is causally related, in general terms, to a Eurocentric hegemony derived from colonialism and colonial indoctrination cum proselytization. I end by proposing seven theses for the critical reflection and appraisal of the reader.

Giving voice to African thought in medical research ethics

Toward a New Common Sense: The Need for New Paradigms of Global Health Beyond the COVID-19 Emergency

Ecological Ethics, Planetary Sustainability, and Global Health

Morbid Symptoms, Organic Crises, and Enclosures of the Commons: Global Health Since the 2008 World Economic Crisis

India is currently in the grip of an unprecedented agricultural crisis, which has led to the suicide of over 300,000 farmers over the past two and half decades. The crisis has been caused by multiple factors including lack of a sustainable agricultural policy, globalization, and decreased state investment in agriculture concurrent with an increased role of private players and climate change. This has led to reduced income for farmers and increased farmers’ indebtedness, which in turn affects the nutritional status of farming families, particularly women and children. In 2017, India was ranked 100 out of a total of 117 countries by the Global Hunger Index. The focus of state schemes related to nutrition has been on ensuring food security rather than nutrition security.
The agrarian crisis is increasingly making agriculture an unviable occupation and hundreds and thousands of farmers are opting out of working on the land to move to urban areas, where jobs are scarce, further deepening the nutritional crisis. The long-term sustainable solutions include sustainable use of resources of land, seed, and water through promotion of low-input agriculture that is tailored to the nutritional and income needs of farmers and their families, and to the agro-ecological conditions of the region. Agricultural policy must enable the small and marginal farmer to earn a fair income and to be free of debt by ensuring access to procuring agencies, an adequate price for produce, and low-interest micro-loans.

https://www.worldnutritionjournal.org/index.php/wn/article/download/574/541

Anil Chandy Ittyerah

Papers

The Agrarian Crisis and Its Nutritional Consequences in India