Anatomy Section, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom.
Anat Sci Educ. 2010 Jul-Aug;3(4):174-83. doi: 10.1002/ase.157.
The study of gross Anatomy through the use of cadaveric dissections in medical schools is an essential part of the comprehensive learning of human Anatomy, and unsurprisingly, 90% of the surveyed medical schools in Africa used cadaveric dissections. Donated cadavers now make up 80% of the total cadavers in North American medical schools and all the cadavers used for dissection in the United Kingdom are donated. Because the sources of cadavers used in Africa are not clearly known, a questionnaire to gather information on cadavers used at medical schools was designed from the relevant literature and was sent by electronic mail to 123 Anatomy lecturers in 23 African countries (48 medical schools). Fourteen lecturers from 14 medical schools in ten countries responded to the questionnaires. The results indicate that, in most countries, the cadavers are unclaimed bodies from the hospitals and prisons, and the bodies of dead bandits. In South Africa and Zimbabwe, the donations are mostly from the white community, and medical school in the Islamic country of Libya is importing cadavers from India. The lack of knowledge about body donation programes and firmly held cultural and religious burial traditions may explain the lack of bequests from black communities. The use of unclaimed bodies may disproportionally affect people who were homeless and poor, criminals, people with fewer social links, and social outcasts. The Anatomy lecturers felt that there should be broader national awareness programes for body donations, although the benefits of this could take decades to materialize.
在医学院中，通过对尸体进行解剖来学习大体解剖学是全面学习人体解剖学的重要组成部分，毫不奇怪，非洲 90%的调查医学院都使用尸体解剖。现在，捐赠的尸体占北美医学院所有尸体的 80%，英国所有用于解剖的尸体都是捐赠的。由于非洲使用的尸体来源并不清楚，因此根据相关文献设计了一份问卷，以收集医学院使用的尸体信息，并通过电子邮件发送给非洲 23 个国家的 123 名解剖学讲师（涉及 48 所医学院）。来自 10 个国家的 14 名讲师对问卷做出了回应。结果表明，在大多数国家，这些尸体都是来自医院和监狱的无人认领的尸体，以及死去的土匪的尸体。在南非和津巴布韦，捐赠者大多来自白人社区，而利比亚这个伊斯兰国家的医学院则从印度进口尸体。对遗体捐赠项目缺乏了解以及坚定的文化和宗教丧葬传统可能解释了黑人社区缺乏捐赠的原因。无人认领的尸体的使用可能会不成比例地影响到无家可归者和穷人、罪犯、社会联系较少的人以及社会弃儿。解剖学讲师认为，应该开展更广泛的国家遗体捐赠意识项目，尽管这可能需要几十年的时间才能实现。
