Airhihenbuwa Collins O
Department of Biobehavioral Health, Pennsylvania State University, University Park 16802, USA.
Health Educ Behav. 2007 Feb;34(1):31-42. doi: 10.1177/1090198106291377. Epub 2006 Dec 15.
African identity must be central to research on African health and development. This article focuses on three primary themes for advancing a different vision for understanding health issues in Africa. The first is the need to deconstruct conventional assumptions and theories that have been used to frame public health problems and solutions in Africa. The second is to insist that identity be central to how we frame issues of health and behavior in general and in Africa in particular. The third is the importance of the notion of "social cultural infrastructure" in defining African ways of knowing to guide public health research and intervention in Africa. Finally, the metaphor of the "African gate" is used to illuminate these themes while drawing on examples from an HIV- and AIDS-related stigma research in South Africa and its implications for addressing the critical global public-health issues of today.
非洲身份认同必须成为非洲健康与发展研究的核心。本文聚焦于三个主要主题，以推进对非洲健康问题的不同理解视角。第一个主题是需要解构那些用于构建非洲公共卫生问题及解决方案的传统假设和理论。第二个主题是坚持身份认同应成为我们总体上，尤其是在非洲构建健康与行为问题的核心。第三个主题是“社会文化基础设施”概念在界定非洲认知方式以指导非洲公共卫生研究与干预方面的重要性。最后，运用“非洲之门”这一隐喻来阐释这些主题，同时借鉴南非一项与艾滋病毒和艾滋病相关耻辱感研究的实例及其对解决当今全球关键公共卫生问题的启示。
