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Objectives Our paper highlights areas of interest to psychologists studying aging in Africa and what has already been learned about aspects of psychological aging from studies done in the African context. We also considered whether there are issues that are unique about aging in the African context that might challenge how aging is typically considered in psychology research. Methods We reviewed articles recently published in major gerontology journals focusing on African older adults, with the goal of identifying key themes of current geropsychology in Africa. Results We identified a number of dominant themes including: subjective aging, psychosocial impact of widowhood at old age, aging in place, stress and caregiving, cognitive aging, interrelations between HIV and aging, and successful aging. Discussion The themes of psychological aging research identified as especially relevant in Africa provide a starting point for psychological aging researchers in general to engage with the African context. Many African countries may be facing common challenges, but the existing studies are not fully representative of the aging population in the continent. Creating a framework for organizing and coordinating funding will help to address the limited research on geropsychology in Africa. Collaborative research projects/programs, joint classrooms, and fellowships that support African geropsychology scholars will be helpful. Geropsychology will benefit from more engagement with the African context by applying innovative approaches such as the adoption of longitudinal designs, mixed-method research, Experience Sampling Methods, translation of measures into indigenous languages, involvement of rural samples, and implementation science and community-engaged research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

African social workers and psychologists have called for the utility of ubuntu philosophy in the fields of social work and psychology. Ubuntu is an African philosophy that is based on humanness, kindness, communality, socio-structural issues such as social justice, and human rights. This paper explores the philosophy of ubuntu guided by the seven modalities of the multimodal approach, which are behaviour, effect, sensation, imagery, cognition, interpersonal relationships and drugs/biology. The article suggests that ubuntu as an African philosophy has potential to contribute two modalities in addition to the seven modalities in the multimodal approach by the South African psychologist Arnold Lazarus. It argues that ubuntu contributes two domains in assessments and these are as follows: the person-physical environment relationship and the spiritual relationship. Given the emphasis on eco-spiritually informed social work, this paper calls for the adoption of these two modalities for the assessment and intervention plans in social work practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Up to 1.45 billion people currently suffer from soil transmitted helminth infection, with the largest burden occurring in Africa and Asia. Safe and cost effective deworming treatment exists, but there is a debate about mass distribution of this treatment in high prevalence settings. While the World Health Organization recommends mass administration of anthelmintic drugs for preschool and school-aged children in high (>20%) prevalence settings, and several long run follow up studies of an influential trial have suggested large benefits that persist over time, recent systematic reviews have called this recommendation into question. Methods and findings: This paper analyzes the long-term impact of a cluster-randomized trial in eastern Uganda that provided mass deworming treatment to preschool aged children from 2000 to 2003 on the numeracy and literacy skills of children and young adults living in those villages in 2010-2015. This study uses numeracy and literacy data collected seven to twelve years after the end of the deworming trial in a randomly selected subset of communities from the original trial, by an education-focused survey that had no relationship to the deworming study. Building on an earlier working paper which used data from 2010 and 2011 survey rounds, this paper uses an additional four years of numeracy and literacy data (2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015). Aggregating data from all survey rounds, the difference between numeracy scores in treatment versus control communities is 0.07 standard deviations (SD) (95% CI -0.10, 0.24, p = 0.40), the difference in literacy scores is 0.05 SD (95% CI -0.16, 0.27, p = 0.62), and the difference in total scores is 0.07 SD (95% CI -0.11, 0.25, p = 0.44). There are significant differences in program impact by gender, with numeracy and literacy differentially positively affected for girls, and by age, with treatment effects larger for the primary school aged subsample. There are also significant treatment interactions for those living in households with more treatment-eligible children. There is no evidence of differential treatment effects on age at program eligibility or number of years of program eligibility. Conclusions: Mass deworming of preschool aged children in high prevalence communities in Uganda resulted in no statistically significant gains in numeracy or literacy 7-12 years after program completion. Point estimates were positive but imprecise; the study lacked sufficient power to rule out substantial positive effects or more modest negative effects. However, there is suggestive evidence that deworming was relatively more beneficial for girls, primary school aged children, and children living in households with other treated children. Research approval: As this analysis was conducted on secondary data which is publicly available, no research approval was sought or received. All individual records were anonymized by the data provider prior to public release. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we will present a reflection on reviewed literature on African indigenous understanding of spirituality, highlighting the influence of this concept on notions of the self, motivation and well-being. The indigenous understanding of spirituality is central to the understanding of the self as distinct, but positioned within the relational-collective self. This African indigenous perception of the self is grounded within the autonomous experience of the tenets of spirituality, which is explored in this paper through the lens of self-determination theory. The experience of autonomy, which is represented in this paper as choice and consent, competence and relatedness within spirituality, is considered as an intrinsic motivation factor for African indigenous communities to achieve well-being. Hence, we argue for the relevance of identifying and exploring ways that an understanding of the African indigenous spiritual belief systems, and the various ways that this understanding impacts on well-being for African indigenous communities, can be unearthed and scrutinized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent welcome inclusion of the study of African psychology within the psychology degree curriculum of some forward-thinking African universities has been lauded as a great positive drive in the right direction. In the past, the practices that prevailed were those of mainstream Western psychology imported to Africa. This awkward situation originated during the period of colonialism and the emergence of missionary Christianity in Africa. This article proposes that if the current positive attitude toward African psychology is to last and bear fruit, there is a need to formally inaugurate a new order or tradition (referred to in this paper as the Madiban tradition) that would anchor and open up the study of psychology in African universities towards a new future: a future in which the progressive arm of both Western and African approaches to psychology would coexist and enjoy enduring mutual respect and equitable participatory presence in these programmes. This paper highlights the theoretical framework undergirding this vision and the challenges to be faced and new shifts to be made in implementing such a vision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We argue in this paper that the urban environmental planning and management literature has paid insufficient attention to the nexus of risk and human psychology in urban dynamics, particularly for the rapidly urbanizing areas of the Global South. We then draw on two household surveys in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to present two empirical examples that incorporate these dimensions, using solid waste management as a contemporary urban environmental challenge. These examples illustrate the sensitivity of behavioral preferences to the framing of risks, and the influence of risk preferences on solid waste behavior. Incorporating such concepts into environmental planning and management research offers the potential to increase understanding of urban dynamics and to improve the environmental quality of life in urban Africa and elsewhere in both developing and developed country settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A community’s cultural beliefs, attitudes and discourse can affect their responses in surveys. Knowledge of these cultural factors and how to comply with them or adjust for them during data collection can improve data quality. Objective: This study describes implications of features of Gambian culture related to women’s reproductive health, and mortality, when collecting data in surveys. Methods: 13 in-depth interviews of female interviewers and a focus group discussion among male interviewers were conducted in two rural health and demographic surveillance systems as well as three key informant interviews in three regions in The Gambia. Results: From the fieldworker’s viewpoint, questions relating to reproduction were best asked by women as culturally pregnancies should be concealed, and menstruation is considered a sensitive topic. Gambians were reluctant to speak about decedents and the Fula did not like to be counted, potentially affecting estimation of mortality. Asking about siblings proved problematic among the Fula and Serahule communities. Proposals made to overcome these challenges were that culturally-appropriate metaphors and symbols should be used to discuss sensitive matters and to enumerating births/deaths singly instead of collecting summary totals, which had threatening connotations. This was as opposed to training interviewers to ask standardised and precise verbatim questions. Contribution: This paper presents indigenous Gambian solutions by fieldworkers to culturally sensitive topics when collecting pregnancy outcomes and mortality data in demographic and health surveys. For researchers collecting maternal mortality data, it highlights the potential shortcomings of the sibling history methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Modeling contributes to health program planning by allowing users to estimate future outcomes that are otherwise difficult to evaluate. However, modeling results are often not easily translated into practical policies. This paper examines the barriers and enabling factors that can allow models to better inform health decision-making. Description: The Decision Makers’ Program Planning Tool (DMPPT) and its successor, DMPPT 2, are illustrative examples of modeling tools that have been used to inform health policy. Their use underpinned Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) scale-up for HIV prevention in southern and eastern Africa. Both examine the impact and cost-effectiveness of VMMC scale-up, with DMPPT used initially in global advocacy and DMPPT 2 then providing VMMC coverage estimates by client age and subnational region for use in country-specific program planning. Their application involved three essential steps: identifying and engaging a wide array of stakeholders from the outset, reaching consensus on key assumptions and analysis plans, and convening data validation meetings with critical stakeholders. The subsequent DMPPT 2 Online is a user-friendly tool for in-country modeling analyses and continuous program planning and monitoring. Lessons learned: Through three iterations of the DMPPT applied to VMMC, a comprehensive framework with six steps was identified: (1) identify a champion, (2) engage stakeholders early and often, (3) encourage consensus, (4) customize analyses, (5), build capacity, and (6) establish a plan for sustainability. This framework could be successfully adapted to other HIV prevention programs to translate modeling results to policy and programming. Conclusions: Models can be used to mobilize support, strategically plan, and monitor key programmatic elements, but they can also help inform policy environments in which programs are conceptualized and implemented to achieve results. The ways in which modeling has informed VMMC programs and policy may be applicable to an array of other health interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: HIV-related mHealth interventions have demonstrable efficacy in supporting treatment adherence, although the evidence base for promoting HIV testing is inconclusive. Progress is constrained by a limited understanding of processes used to develop interventions and weak theoretical underpinnings. This paper describes a research project that informed the development of a theory-based mHealth intervention to promote HIV testing amongst city-dwelling African communities in the conditions.Methods: A community-based participatory social marketing design was adopted. Six focus groups (48 participants in total) were undertaken and analysed using a thematic framework approach, guided by constructs from the Health Belief Model. Key themes were incorporated into a set of text messages, which were pre-tested and refined.Results: The focus groups identified a relatively low perception of HIV risk, especially amongst men, and a range of social and structural barriers to HIV testing. In terms of self-efficacy around HIV testing, respondents highlighted a need for communities and professionals to work together to build a context of trust through co-location in, and co-involvement of, local communities which would in turn enhance confidence in, and support for, HIV testing activities of health professionals. Findings suggested that messages should: avoid an exclusive focus on HIV, be tailored and personalised, come from a trusted source, allay fears and focus on support and health benefits.Conclusions: HIV remains a stigmatized and de-prioritized issue within African migrant communities in the UK, posing barriers to HIV testing initiatives. A community-based participatory social marketing design can be successfully used to develop a culturally appropriate text messaging HIV intervention. Key challenges involved turning community research recommendations into brief text messages of only 160 characters. The intervention needs to be evaluated in a randomized control trial. Future research should explore the application of the processes and methodologies described in this paper within other communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The population of Ghana is increasingly becoming urbanized with about 70% of the estimated 27 million people living in urban and peri-urban areas. Nonetheless, eight out of the ten regions in Ghana remain predominantly rural where only 32% of the national health sector workforce works. Moreover, the rural-urban disparities in the density of health tutors (staff responsible for pre-service training of health professionals) are enormous. This paper explores perceived needs of health tutors in rural and urban health training institutions in Ghana. Methods: This is a descriptive qualitative study conducted in the Greater Accra and Northern regions of Ghana. The Study used the deductive thematic and sub-thematic analysis approaches. Five health training institutions were randomly sampled, and 72 tutors engaged in separate focus group discussions with an average size of 14 participants per group in each training institution. Results: Perceived rural-urban disparities among health tutors were found in the payment of extra duty allowances; school infrastructure including libraries and internet connectivity; staff accommodation; and opportunities for scholarships and higher education. Health tutors in rural areas generally expressed more frustration with these work conditions than those in urban areas. Conclusions: There is the need to initiate and sustain work incentives that promote motivation of rural health tutors to control ongoing rural-urban migration of qualified staff. It is recommended the following incentives be prioritized to promote retention of qualified health tutors in rural health training schools: payment of research, book and rural allowances; early promotion of rural staff; prioritizing rural tutors for scholarships, and introduction of national best health tutor awards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guidelines on psychosocial interventions in postconflict areas commonly mention that interventions should be based on local needs and be built on culture-specific expertise. This paper is based on a dissociative cult, the Kiyang-yang (KYY), in Guinea Bissau. In a previous article, we used a refined definition of the concept of idiom of distress to analyze the dissociative behavior displayed in KYY as a symbolic language addressing politically dangerous truths. This paper uses the concept of “collective trauma processing” to analyze how the idiom offered the local population a pathway to mitigate the consequences of protracted and widespread political violence. The paper first argues that the field of psychotraumatology lacks a comprehensive ecological theory on trauma. Moreover, within clinical psychology and psychiatry, little attention is paid to local cultural healing mechanisms addressing traumatic stress. This paper is an effort to study such mechanisms in their own right. To compare trauma processing mechanisms across the globe, we propose to analyze trauma processing mechanisms with the help of a comprehensive model discerning five ontological dimensions that are considered to be involved in suffering and are addressed in healing approaches. Our paper describes similarities and differences between psychological healing traditions and collective trauma processing within the West African context of Guinea Bissau. We will illustrate how the KYY movement uses the idiom of dissociation as both a collective expression of distress and as a vehicle to process social suffering and traumatic stress as a circular phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migration has been hypothesised to be selective on health but this healthy migrant hypothesis has generally been tested at destinations, and for only one type of flow, from deprived to better-off areas. The circulatory nature of migration is rarely accounted for. This study examines the relationship between different types of internal migration and adult mortality in Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) populations in West, East, and Southern Africa, and asks how the processes of selection, adaptation and propagation explain the migration-mortality relationship experienced in these contexts. The paper uses longitudinal data representing approximately 900 000 adults living in nine sub-Saharan African HDSS sites of the INDEPTH Network. Event History Analysis techniques are employed to examine the relationship between all-cause mortality and migration status, over periods ranging from 3 to 14 years for a total of nearly 4.5 million person-years. The study confirms the importance of migration in explaining variation in mortality, and the diversity of the migration-mortality relationship over a range of rural and urban local areas in the three African regions. The results confirm that the pattern of migration-mortality relationship is not exclusively explained by selection but also by propagation and adaptation. Consequences for public health policy are drawn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HIV/AIDS, more than any other public health problem, challenges dominant models of the role of psychology in health promotion and prevention. This paper focuses on poverty and resulting food insecurity as a structural risk factor for HIV infection. The paper considers the role of health psychology in global health concerns and argues that, while individual-based interventions are important, health psychology needs to shift to playing a proper role in broader level initiatives. Health psychology, in thinking about global health concerns such as HIV, needs to view an understanding of health, education and nutrition delivery programmes in low resourced contexts as at the core of the discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Background: Perinatal mental health disorders are recognised as an important public health issue in low-income countries as well as in developed countries. This paper reviews evidence on the prevalence and risk factors of maternal mental health disorders in African women living in Africa. Methods: A systematic review of the literature was conducted. Studies were mainly located through computerised databases, and additionally through hand searching references of identified articles and reviews. Thirty-five studies, with a total of 10,880 participants, were identified that reported prevalence rates of maternal psychological health in eight African countries. Results: Depression was the most commonly assessed disorder with a weighted mean prevalence of 11.3% (95% CI 9.5%–13.1%) during pregnancy and 18.3% (95% CI 17.6%–19.1%) after birth. Only a small number of studies assessed other psychological disorders. Prevalence rates of pre- and postnatal anxiety were 14.8% (95% CI 12.3%–17.4%) and 14.0% (95% CI 12.9%–15.2%), respectively; and one study reported the prevalence of PTSD as 5.9% (95% CI 4.4%–7.4%) following childbirth. Lack of support and marital/family conflict were associated with poorer mental health. Evidence relating sociodemographic and obstetric variables to mental health was inconclusive. Limitations: Most studies included in this review were cross-sectional and measures of mental health varied considerably. Conclusions: This paper demonstrates that maternal mental health disorders are prevalent in African women, and highlights the importance of maternal mental health care being integrated into future maternal and infant health policies in African countries. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper is the account of a clinical psychology research on psychical traumata and trauma psychotherapies in the African region of the Great Lakes, a place that was the scene of fratricidal wars that gave origin to genocide-like acts some years ago. The paper studies psychical traumata related to war crimes, sexual violence and abuse, mistreatment of women and children, relocation of settlements, social neglect, torture, and many other circumstances that pose extreme problems to survival. A case example is a 17-years-old young Burundian woman called Flora, who showed reminiscences of a horrible incident she suffered when being 8 years old, and could not translate into words, by no kind of thinking, that traumatic experience which left her literally mute. She only survived but didn't really live. This woman's search for the impossible word is traced in the paper. Through her integration to a "word group", the research space became a holding clinical framework where the group played the role of a third person. Some hypotheses are formulated on the etiology of the disorders that gave origin to her current situation, and on the procedures to remedy them. The proposed prescription for doing clinical work on the trauma generated a movement that permitted to restore thinking and to produce a discourse, elaborating affects and demands. This prescription was thus a first step for some further work, that could eventually be an individual therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how the profile of undernutrition among children in two African countries (Ethiopia and Nigeria) changed over the period of the 2007/08 food, fuel and financial crisis. Using the Composite Index of Anthropometric Failure (CIAF), an indicator which allows for a comprehensive assessment of undernutrition in young children, we examine what changes occurred in the composition of undernutrition, and how these changes were distributed amongst children in different socio-economic groups. This is important as certain combinations of anthropometric failure (AF), especially the experience of multiple failures (dual and triple combinations of AF) are associated with higher morbidity and mortality risks, and are also related to poverty. Our hypothesis is that increases in food prices during the crisis contributed to an increase in inequality, which may have resulted in concurrent increases in the prevalence of more damaging forms of undernutrition amongst poorer children. While both countries witnessed large increases in food prices, the effects were quite different. Ethiopia managed reduce the prevalence of multiple anthropometric failure between 2005 and 2011 across most groups and regions. By contrast, in Nigeria prevalence increased between 2008 and 2013, and particularly so in the poorer, northern states. The countries studied applied quite different policies in response to food price increases, with the results from Ethiopia demonstrating that protectionist public health and nutrition interventions can mitigate the impacts of price increases on poor children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I discuss the parallels between responses to syphilis in nineteenth century Britain and HIV/AIDS in contemporary Africa. In each case, an incurable disease connected with sexual behaviour aroused fear, stigmatisation and moralistic responses, as well as a desperate scramble to find an effective means of control. In both cases, circumcision of adult males, and then of children or infants, was proposed as the key tactic. In the ensuing debates over the effectiveness and propriety of this approach, three questions occupied health authorities in both Victorian Britain and the contemporary world: (1) Were circumcised men at significantly lower risk of these diseases? (2) If there was evidence pointing to an affirmative answer, was it altered anatomy or different behaviour that explained the difference? (3) Given that circumcision was a surgical procedure with attendant risks of infection, was it possible that circumcision spread syphilis or HIV? I show that in both situations the answers to these questions were inconclusive, argue that circumcision played little or no role in the eventual control of syphilis and suggest that attention to nineteenth century debates may assist contemporary policy-makers to avoid the treatment dead-ends and ethical transgressions that marked the war on syphilis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The world is undergoing a rapid health transition, with an ageing population and disease burden increasingly defined by disability. In Sub-Saharan Africa the next 40 years are predicted to see reduced mortality, signalling a surge in the impact of chronic diseases. We modelled these epidemiological changes and associated mental health workforce requirements. Years lived with a disability (YLD) predictions for mental and substance use disorders for each decade from 2010 to 2050 for four Sub-Saharan African regions were calculated using Global Burden of Disease 2010 study (GBD 2010) data and UN population forecasts. Predicted mental health workforce requirements for 2010 and 2050, by region and for selected countries, were modelled using GBD 2010 prevalence estimates and recommended packages of care and staffing ratios for low- and middle-income countries, and compared to current staffing from the WHO Mental Health Atlas. Significant population growth and ageing will result in an estimated 130% increase in the burden of mental and substance use disorders in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2050, to 45 million YLDs. As a result, the required mental health workforce will increase by 216,600 full time equivalent staff from 2010 to 2050, and far more compared to the existing workforce. The growth in mental and substance use disorders by 2050 is likely to significantly affect health and productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa. To reduce this burden, packages of care for key mental disorders should be provided through increasing the mental health workforce towards targets outlined in this paper. This requires a shift from current practice in most African countries, involving substantial investment in the training of primary care practitioners, supported by district based mental health specialist teams using a task sharing model that mobilises local community resources, with the expansion of inpatient psychiatric units based in district and regional general hospitals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article will examine a fundamental drive that indirectly supported Italian expansionist lust in Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia between the late-nineteenth century and the Second World War. These colonies in Africa provided Italian men with sexual excess, a place outside the boundaries and mores regulating sexuality in the metropolis. Native girls were considered to be 'full grown' by the age of eleven, bigamy was rampant, rape and homosexuality tolerated, and slavery overlooked. One ex-soldier remembered that in Africa women 'reeked of booty', others filled their memoirs with accounts of the purchase of women. The conquest of Somalia did not offer the Italian State more than a strategic position on the Indian Ocean but well into the 1960s it remained in the common imagination, as the land inhabited by the 'black female Vikings', the 'most beautiful women in the world'. This paper will also analyze changes in the regulation of sexuality in the period of consolidation of the Italian Empire with the Fascist 'Laws for the Defence of the Race', 11 November 1938, while documenting the hard to die practises and fantasies of colonial desire. The tension between desire and the asymmetrical power to realise it, will illustrate a one-sided dream, ultimately a colonial nightmare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a two-sided ethnographic study in Accra, this paper analyses Chinese–Ghanaian employment relations from the perspectives of psychological contract, cross-cultural equity expectations and foreignness. Reaching beyond racially framed allegations of each other that are informed partly by politicized media discourses, structural analysis shows that mutually contradictory, culturally grounded expectations regarding their employment relationship are central to the understanding of conflict between Chinese employers and Ghanaian employees. Central to the frictions of mutual equity expectations is the feeling of existential vulnerability that – although particular for each group – is shared by both Chinese migrant employers taking high financial risks in an unfamiliar and potentially hostile environment and their local employees recruited almost exclusively from economically marginalized groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global health has become an increasingly prominent component of foreign policy in the last decade. The term health diplomacy has been used to describe this growing interface between foreign policy and global health, and it encompasses both the concept of using health to further foreign policy objectives as well as the idea that diplomatic tools can be helpful for attaining public health goals. The Chinese presence in Africa has grown in the last 15 years, generating increased interest in Sino-African relations. While much has been written in recent years about the Chinese presence in Africa, the growing numbers of Africans in China have attracted considerably less attention. Many are small-scale traders and might be expected to face many of the health challenges common among foreign migrants, but their health needs have been largely unrecognised. In this paper, we consider how a health diplomacy approach could be applied to African migrants in China, and the potential advantages and limitations of this strategy. We identify areas of overlap between public health, trade and foreign policy goals that can be emphasised to generate support for improved services for African migrants in China and to engage partners from a diversity of sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a conceptual model of sustainable employee motivation and enterprise performance (based on job characteristics) through the juxtaposition of the internal marketing, job characteristics, uncertainty and in/equity theories. It reasons that job characteristics and their effect on motivation and performance in African small- and medium-sized enterprises depends on the degree to which uncertainty in the business environment, perceived inequity and job insecurity resulting from migrant competition can be minimized. Theoretical, managerial and policy implications are elaborated. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

HIV transmission in sub Saharan Africa has been consistently reported to be heterosexual. The existence of Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) has been denied and the epidemic among them ignored although homosexuality in the continent has been documented. Consequently, limited research has been conducted among Africa's MSM. Homophobia has been reported as one of the key forces driving Africa's epidemic because stigma and discrimination may make MSM a hard-to-reach group for HIV prevention and early treatment services. We conducted searches in journals, newspapers, UNAIDS and MSM web sites to read laws, abuse, and discrimination of MSM. We reviewed literature on entertainment education and its success in addressing social, political, and health issues worldwide in order to propose a solution to the issue. Fifty-five percent of African countries have laws against sex between men. Penalties range from fines, imprisonment, or death. Official harassments, state sponsored homophobia and threats against MSM have been documented. Stigmatization can create barriers to testing, restrict utilization of prevention programs, condom use, and failure to disclose HIV status to sexual partners. This paper suggests a communication strategy such as entertainment education to raise awareness and tolerance and to promote action in the fight against HIV/AIDS epidemic and related stigmatization among Africa's MSM. Entertainment Education which derives from various theories can be disseminated through radio or TV and can bring behavior and social change by offering the audience an opportunity for social learning. It has been effective worldwide and examples include Grey's Anatomy, ER, Philadelphia, Soul City, Eastenders, and the telenovela Simplemente Maria and can pave way for HIV prevention and treatment in a vulnerable population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past two decades have been characterized by renewed attention to the importance of early childhood development (ECD) policies and services in the world's richest and most industrialized countries. During the same period, we have witnessed unprecedented efforts to place ECD policies on the national development planning agenda of the economically less advantaged countries of the Majority World. This paper is premised on the concern that the purposes that have led bilateral and multilateral... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to address the invisibility of Africana psychological theory, research, and methodology in Africology by synthesizing the competing definitions, schools of thought, and research agendas in Black Psychology. Attention will be given to the various ways in which Black psychologists have attempted to deconstruct and reconstruct traditional psychological thought as well as construct new definitions, theories, measurements, and conceptual frameworks for understanding and interpreting the psychological experiences of people of African descent. Although psychology was identified by Karenga as one of the core components in the emerging discipline of African-American Studies, very few of the existing institutes, programs, and departments of African-American Studies include psychology as a major part of their curriculum. As a psycho-historical endeavor, a primary concern of Africana Psychology is with understanding how the historical experiences of being an African in America have impacted African-American psyches. Thus, it is argued that if the discipline of Africology is attempting to fully understand Africana experiences, Africology must reexamine the importance of psychology and its role in aiding Africana scholars interpret and understand the experiences of people of African descent in the Americas and throughout the diaspora. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article calls for papers on the psychology of indigenous healing in Africa.