Examining African Contributions to Global Health

Diversify your historical perspective by learning about the Global South

The history of science has largely been written from the perspective of the Global North. This has meant that the impact of the Global South has been neglected and undervalued.

This five-week course from the University of Basel will uncover the innovation and excellence that Africa has brought to global health over time.

Use African ingenuity to improve public health worldwide

Africa has been at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19, having contributed 12.8% of the technologies used to respond to the pandemic.

As you will learn in the case studies, many African countries have overcome health challenges using innovative solutions that can benefit the world. You’ll explore theories, financing solutions, and technologies from Africa that can be used to uplift health systems across the world.

Utilise the knowledge exchange of the Global South to inspire innovation

African countries have a wealth of knowledge that the Global North could benefit from.

Using the knowledge from this course, you will be able to identify problems relating to clinical trials and financing in the Global North and learn from innovative approaches in Africa.

You will also learn about examples of knowledge exchange in the Global South and find connections between urban planning and public health that can be used to motivate transformation in global health.

Learn with the experts in African Studies from the University of Basel

The University of Basel has a renowned Centre for African Studies, has one of the few chairs of African History in Europe, and is associated with one of the leading tropical medicine institutes in the world.

The experts are best placed to guide you in your journey, broaden your horizons, and improve your knowledge of the history of African contributions to global health.

This course is suited to public health professionals as well as students and scholars of global health and African Studies.

It’s also helpful to those interested in history, urbanism, public health, health economics, drug development, and Africa.

• What are African contributions to global health?
• Introducing African contributions to global health
• The history of global health
• Discussing African contributions to global health
• African health financing
• Introducing health financing in Africa
• Universal Health Coverage
• Raising revenues
• What other countries can learn
• Learning from drug development in Africa
• Introducing drug development in Africa
• Challenges and successes in drug development in Africa
• Learning from African centres of excellence
• Drug developers’ perspectives
• South-South knowledge circulation
• Introducing South-South knowledge circulation
• The work of a historian
• South-South: The case of Chinese medicine in Tanzania
• Discussing South-South knowledge circulation
• Urban health in Africa
• Introducing urban health in Africa
• Recent history of urban planning in Africa
• Intra-urban health disparities
• Urban-rural linkages and public health
• Recap and farewell