The essential text for all healthcare professionals wanting a complete, up-to-date practical reference book on medicine in Africa.

This is a completely rewritten and updated edition of Professor Parry's textbook of medicine in Africa. It sets out for medical students the universal princples of medicine in the particular context to Africa. To prevent the book from becoming regional in its emphasis, contributors and advisers have been recruited from many different African countries. Medical conditions are seen against the social and geographical background, and the changing patterns of society due to urbanization.

For students of medicine and those who practice in the front-line of medicine in Africa, this fully revised edition combines classical internal medicine with a rich understanding of the major influences on health and disease in Africa. It puts disease into the context of family and culture and is not afraid to address the effects of inequality on health and the problems of limited resources for health care. There is a much expanded section on non-communicable diseases as well as comprehensive accounts of HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other major infections in the continent. Forward-looking and evidence-based, this new edition reflects the emergence of new diseases and health risks in the region. Complied by the foremost international authorities, this is the one essential text for the medical student, medical officer, or postgraduate student wanting the most complete and up-to-date reference book on medicine in Africa.

Principles of Medicine in Africa combines classical clinical medicine with a rich understanding of the major environmental and cultural influences on health and disease, providing comprehensive guidance for anyone intending to practise medicine in Africa. Disease is presented in the context of family and culture, and the effects of inequality and problems of limited resources are addressed. The authors have a wealth of experience in front line healthcare and provide practical, evidence-based management guidelines for all the common and less common conditions likely to be encountered. This fourth edition has been thoroughly updated to incorporate the latest research findings and management guidelines. It includes an expanded section on maternal and child health, but careful editing has generated a slimmer volume, whilst retaining all of the essential content. This is the one essential text for medical students and healthcare professionals wanting a complete and up-to-date reference book on medicine in Africa.

In Biomedical Hegemony and Democracy in South Africa Ngambouk Vitalis Pemunta and Tabi Chama-James Tabenyang unpack the contentious South African government’s post-apartheid policy framework of the ‘‘return to tradition policy’’. The conjuncture between deep sociopolitical crises, witchcraft, the ravaging HIV/AIDS pandemic and the government’s initial reluctance to adopt antiretroviral therapy turned away desperate HIV/AIDS patients to traditional healers. Drawing on historical sources, policy documents and ethnographic interviews, Pemunta and Tabenyang convincingly demonstrate that despite biomedical hegemony, patients and members of their therapy-seeking group often shuttle between modern and traditional medicine, thereby making both systems of healthcare complementary rather than alternatives. They draw the attention of policy-makers to the need to be aware of ‘‘subaltern health narratives’’ in designing health policy.

The first principle of public health practice is defined as the identification of the root cause or causes of all health problems, from the diseased individual to the effects on that individual of family, social, community, national, global, environment and other factors. The second principle is defined as the utilisation of the resources of the community, the nation and the world to effect a lasting and, often, a cheaper solution to health problems. This comprehensively revised and updated edition of the first volume provides a ready source for principles and practice, and more practical advice than the first edition which did not fully cover all the aspects of a comprehensive public health practice. The contributors are all practitioners, and the emphasis throughout is to bring out the principles involved in identifying the root causes of all types of health problems, and discovering practical and innovatory solutions for them in ways best suited to African countries.