Main description:

This volume interrogates global health and especially the scourge of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the role that science has played in mitigating the human experiences of pandemics and health over the centuries. Science, and the scientific method, has always been at the forefront of the human attempt at undermining the virulent consequences of sicknesses and diseases. However, the scientific image of humans in the world is founded on the presumption of possessing the complete understanding about humans and their physiological and psychological frameworks. This volume challenges this scientific assumption. Global health denotes the complex and cumulative health profile of humanity that involves not only the framework of scientific researches and practices that investigates and seeks to improve the health of all people on the globe, but also the range of humanistic issues - economic, cultural, social, ideological - that constitute the sources of inequities and threat to the achievement of a positive global health profile. This volume balances the argument that diseases and pandemics are human problems that demand both scientific and humanistic interventions.

Contents:

Introduction: Humanity, the Humanities and Disease Discourse

Chapter One

Toward a Fuller Understanding of the Enigma of Health

Peter Amato

Chapter Two

Ubuntu and COVID-19: A Philosophical Reflection

MSC Okolo

Chapter Three

Limits of Science-based Approaches in Global Health: Socio-Cultural and Moral Lessons from Ebola and Covid-19

Samuel J. Ujewe

Chapter Four

The Vaccination Mandate Debate Revisited

Peter Aloysius Ikhane

Part II: Critical Framing of the Pandemic in Africa

Chapter Five

An African Perspective on the Ethics and Politics of Foreign Medical Aid in a Pandemic

Adeolu Oluwaseyi Oyekan & Ademola Kazeem Fayemi

Chapter Six

Disease Discourses, African Knowledge Systems, and COVID-19 in Senegal

Karen Barton, Jieun Lee, & Ivan Ramirez

Chapter Seven

Enulebo: Ethical Imperative of Yoruba Thought on Eating for Covid-19 Related Crises

Adewale O. Owoseni

Chapter Eight

Epidemiology and an Epistemic Evaluation of the Management of Covid-19 in Nigeria

Anselm Jimoh & Francis Ikhialosime

Chapter Nine

Borders, Boundaries and Identities: Navigating the Barriers to Solidarity and Cohesion in a Pandemic

Adeolu Oluwaseyi Oyekan & Wasiu Abiodun Balogun

Chapter Ten

Discourses of the Wandering Almajiri Child as Representation of the (post-) COVID Generation

Malami Buba & Mika'ilu Ibrahim

Chapter Eleven

Quarantining the Holy Spirit: Africa and the Pentecostal Economy of COVID-19 Pandemic

Asonzeh Ukah

Chapter Twelve

On Pandemic Planning and the Front-line Workers in Nigeria

Damilola Victoria Oduola

Chapter Thirteen

Dialogism and Polyphony in the Interpretations of COVID-19 Discourse

Tobias Marevesa & Esther Mavengano

Part III: Representing COVID-19

Chapter Fourteen

Cartooning COVID on Facebook

James Yeku

Chapter Fifteen

"It's in your hands": Communicating a Pandemic to a Disengaged Public

Eyitayo Aloh

Chapter Sixteen

Musical (Re)presentations of COVID-19 on Social Media among Young People in Nigeria

Samuel Ajose & Jeremiah Omotayo

Chapter Seventeen

Covid-19, Food and Freedom to Worship: An Analytic Approach to Nigeria's Religioscape

Benson Ohihon Igboin

Chapter Eighteen

Covid-19 Risk Communication and Community Engagement on Social Media in Nigeria

Abiola Odejide & Yinka Egbokhare

Chapter Nineteen

COVID-19 (Post)proverbials: Twisting the Word Against the Virus

Remi Raji-Oyelade