What the Global Health Community Can Learn from Africa

“…We would like to express our extreme concern over the attitude of the medical profession, particularly the student body, towards elective periods spent abroad in developing countries. The misconception that the purpose of an elective is to practise one's unpolished skills on an unsuspecting 'bunch of natives', before returning to begin properly, is widespread within the student community. Some even go as far as to assume that the recipient countries ought to be grateful for the help provided by elective students.”1 This quote from St George's Hospital Medical School in London summarizes the somewhat fraught relationship Western medicine has had with the rest of the world including Africa. Indeed, the history of medicine in Africa is one that is entrenched in colonialism; global health efforts on the continent have often secured and continue securing Western interests. European medicine was often used to enforce Western hegemony by lessening the resistance of colonized African populations.2 Unfortunately, the legacy of medical colonialism still lingers; for instance, there exists a real concern as to the efficacy of short-term experiences in global health (STEGHs) offered to undergraduate, medical and postgraduate students who might lack the necessary technical skills and cultural competency to positively affect local community health systems in host countries.3 By failing to recognize the agency and medical knowledge of African nations, the international community has often exacerbated health conditions on the continent. Moreover, it has become clear that the global disease burden can only be reduced if Western countries recognize the active participation of Africa. Therefore, to counter arguments of Africa’s incompetence and neediness, this paper will highlight two different yet important health-related successes on the continent: Rwanda’s efforts to eradicate cervical cancer, and Elimination 8 (E8), a project to eliminate malaria in 8 African countries (Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia; South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe).