Overview
Addresses different health issues across the African continent, bringing together multidisciplinary authors from across Africa and the rest of the world
Highlights and critically examines the social cultural and economic factors in public understanding of health and illness in Africa
Provides recommendations about how to overcome the identified obstacles and improve uptake of health information
Uniquely advocates for the combination of traditional communication strategies with western or mainstream media approaches
Access this book
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Other ways to access
Table of contents (17 chapters)
-
Front Matter
-
Introduction
-
Front Matter
-
-
Conceptual Approaches
-
Front Matter
-
-
Stigma and Health
-
Front Matter
-
-
Reproductive Health, Traditions and Beliefs
-
Front Matter
-
-
Communities, Western and Indigenous Communication
-
Front Matter
-
Keywords
About this book
This book is a collection of essays from across Africa which highlight the roles of beliefs and traditions in health behaviour. Chapters address mental health, risk perception, stigma, reproductive health, religion and health. The book also examines conceptual approaches in health communication and community development, both western and indigenous.
Specific topics include Alzheimer’s, HIV and stigma; perception of risk from obesity, HIV prevention and preeclampsia; doctor-patient relationship and health beliefs of birth attendants; culture and mental health access and social media effects on mental health; the complementary use of contemporary and indigenous communication strategies and the accommodation of science by religious leaders during the COVID 19 pandemic.
The book, which starts by examining global inequalities in health, proposes an African approach informed by problematisation as theorised by Foucault and Freire, to unpack habits and social problems. It ends by asking the question: “Is science enough” and making a strong case for health enabling environments alongside science communication.
Reviews
communication skilfully linked by the editors’ Introductory and Concluding chapters.
Together they provide the basis for a theoretical toolkit for the development of
actionable understandings of the processes through which abstract scientific
knowledge is communicated to real people in real contexts – and the social and
psychological factors that mediate the success of a communication.
It presents a compelling vision of an approach that is deeply rooted in African
scholarship.
— Catherine Campbell, Emeritus Professor of Social Psychology, Department
of Psychological and Behavioural Science, London School of Economics and
Political Science, UK
Editors and Affiliations
About the editors
Bankole Falade is a research fellow with the South African Research Chair in Science Communication, Stellenbosch University, South Africa and Visiting Fellow, Department of Psychological and Behavioural Sciences, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom. His research interests are in science and health communication.
Mercy Murire is a Senior researcher at the Wits Reproductive Health Institute (WRHI) and a researcher at University of Witwatersrand with the school of clinical medicine. Her research interests are in psychology and public health focusing on the intersections between sexual and reproductive health (SRH), mental health, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), HIV prevention, HIV stigma, contraceptives, and gender-based violence in adolescent girls and young women.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Health Communication and Disease in Africa
Book Subtitle: Beliefs, Traditions and Stigma
Editors: Bankole Falade, Mercy Murire
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-2546-6
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Singapore
eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
Hardcover ISBN: 978-981-16-2545-9Published: 28 September 2021
Softcover ISBN: 978-981-16-2548-0Published: 29 September 2022
eBook ISBN: 978-981-16-2546-6Published: 27 September 2021
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XV, 401
Number of Illustrations: 2 b/w illustrations, 8 illustrations in colour
Topics: Sociology, general, Medical Sociology, Media and Communication