Black people living in Africa must be involved in setting the priorities for global health research, policies and programs that affect their daily lives, in order to move away from a funding culture that fosters colonialism, racism and white supremacy.
The killing of George Floyd in the United States in 2020 bolstered the Black Lives Matter movement that began in 2013 and sparked unprecedented denunciations of racism by leading health institutions, professional bodies and academic journals across the world, with pledges for remedial actions. The planned reforms include a more transparent commitment to equity, equality, diversity and inclusion (EEDI) in the composition of their senior staff, provision of health services, membership of editorial and/or advisory boards and authorship of publications. The global health community of donor organizations, global health institutions, non-state actors and donor recipients has also been confronted with its colonial heritage of racism. Several proposals for translating EEDI pledges into actionable steps have been reported, largely from academics based in the Global North. However, the manifestations and impact of systemic racism in global health are more pronounced in the Global South, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa because of its status as the least developed region in the world by almost all population health metrics. The Black people in sub-Saharan Africa are also the most racially disadvantaged and disenfranchised population. In this article, we share some perspectives on racism as Black Africans resident in Africa who are all engaged in global health. (author introduction)
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