The Global North Culture as a Palimpsest.

This is a reflection from three Black South African doctors - two women and a man. We studied at the institution that we are currently working in, which is a former white university that was not permitted to train Black medical students by the apartheid government. We experienced the segregation in healthcare and witnessed how our communities did not have access to it.

A cross-sectional study on factors influencing patient participation in undergraduate medical education in a public and private hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Background: The active involvement of patients in medical education is a common practice globally. Despite this, there is a global paucity of data on patients' views on their role in medical education. As such this study aimed to identify factors that influence patient participation in undergraduate medical education in public and private hospitals in Johannesburg.

Medical students' views on what professionalism means: an Ubuntu perspective.

Medical training has become a global phenomenon, and the Physician's Charter (PC), as a missionary document, is key to training those outside the Global North. Undergraduate and postgraduate students in the medical profession are sometimes trained in contexts foreign to their social and ontological backgrounds. This might lead to confusion and blunders, creating an impression of what might look and feel unprofessional to those unfamiliar with the local context.

Graduates' Reflections on Professionalism and Identity: Intersections of Race, Gender, and Activism.

: Professionalism as a construct is weaponized to police and punish those who do not fit the norm of what a medical professional should look like or behave, more so when medical professionals in training engage in protests for social justice. In addition, professionalism silences trainees, forcing them not to question anything that looks or feels wrong in their eyes. Socialization in medicine, in both the undergraduate and postgraduate training spaces, poses challenges for contemporary medical professionals who are expected to fit the shape of the 'right kind of doctor.

Voices of Silence: Experiences in Disseminating Scholarship as a Global South Researcher.

There is an unspoken requirement that medical education researchers living in the Global South must disseminate their work using dominant frames constructed by individuals living in the Global North. As such, the published literature in our field is dominated by researchers whose work primarily benefits the Western world, casting the rest of what is published as localized and unhelpful knowledge. In this article, we use Audre Lorde's conception of the Master's house as a metaphor to narrate the experiences of two South African medical education researchers trying to disseminate their work into North American venues.

Hypothermia in neonates born by caesarean section at a tertiary hospital in South Africa.

Introduction: neonatal hypothermia has previously been noted in a large proportion of neonates born through Caesarean section at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital (CHBAH), yet no study in South Africa specifically explores the extent and severity of the threat of hypothermia to this population of neonates.

Objectives: to describe the proportion and severity of neonatal hypothermia in infants born Caesarean section at CHBAH as well as to document and describe possible contributing factors to neonatal hypothermia in this population.

Methods: A neonatal unit's database records were reviewed for demographic information of patients and their mothers, clinical characteristics, body temperature and outcomes.

Rethinking professional identity formation amidst protests and social upheaval: a journey in Africa.

The under-representation of minoritized or previously oppressed groups in research challenges the current universal understanding of professional identity formation (PIF). To date, there has been no recognition of an African influence on PIF, which is crucial for understanding this phenomenon in places like South Africa, a society in which the inequity of the apartheid era still prevails. In addition, there is little data examining how social upheaval could impact PIF.

A comparison of weight gain between HIV exposed uninfected and HIV unexposed uninfected infants who received KMC at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital.

Introduction: Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) has been associated with improved growth in low birthweight infants and reduction in hypothermia, hypoglycaemia, apnoeas, sepsis, hospital stay, and mortality. The growth of HIV-infected children is poorer than those who are HIV-uninfected. There is paucity of data on weight gain in the HIV-exposed uninfected (HEU) infants compared to HIV-unexposed uninfected (HUU) infants receiving KMC.

A Review of Very-Low-Birth-Weight Infants Admitted to the Kangaroo Mother Care Unit in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Background Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) is a widely implemented intervention developed as an alternative form of care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) for neonates. The implementation of KMC has significantly reduced morbidity and mortality in very-low-birth-weight infants (VLBWIs). Aim To describe the maternal and neonatal characteristics and clinical outcomes in VLBWIs who received KMC at a tertiary hospital.

Strategies discussed at the XIIth international conference on Kangaroo mother care for implementation on a countrywide scale.

Aim: Building strategies for the country-level dissemination of Kangaroo mother care (KMC) to reduce the mortality rate in preterm and low birth weight babies and improve quality of life. KMC is an evidence-based healthcare method for these infants. However, KMC implementation at the global level remains low.

Growth and metabolism of infants born to women infected with human immunodeficiency virus and fed acidified whey-adapted starter formulas.

Objective: To compare the effects of a biologically and chemically acidified formula with or without probiotics with a standard formula on growth of infants negative for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Methods: This was a double-masked, randomized, clinical trial. Infants born to consenting HIV-positive women who had decided not to breast-feed before being approached for participating in the study were randomized to receive one of four milk formulas: a chemically acidified formula with or without probiotics (Bifidobacterium lactis), a biologically acidified formula, or a standard whey formula.

The structure and function of research ethics committees in Africa: a case study.

Kass and colleagues explore the strengths and weaknesses of research ethics committees in Africa.

Earlier discharge of very low birthweight infants from an under-resourced African hospital: a randomised trial.

Background: Very low birthweight (VLBW) infants contribute substantially to the workload and expenditure of any neonatal unit. Earlier discharge might offer advantages to the infant, the family and the health service.

Aim: To establish the outcome of preterm, VLBW infants discharged at a weight of > or = 1650 g compared with the unit's practise of discharging at a weight of > or = 1800 g.

Polymerase chain reaction for diagnosis of human immunodeficiency virus infection in infancy in low resource settings.

Background: Diagnosis of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is essential for accessing treatment. Current HIV diagnostic protocols for infants require adaptation and validation before they can be implemented in the developing world. The timing and type of HIV assays will be dictated by country-specific circumstances and experience from similar settings.

Kangaroo Mother Care: 25 years after.

Unlabelled: The components of the Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) intervention, their rational bases, and their current uses in low-, middle-, and high-income countries are described. KMC was started in 1978 in Bogotá (Colombia) in response to overcrowding and insufficient resources in neonatal intensive care units associated with high morbidity and mortality among low-birthweight infants. The intervention consists of continuous skin-to-skin contact between the mother and the infant, exclusive breastfeeding, and early home discharge in the kangaroo position.

Cortical hyperostosis in an infant on prolonged prostaglandin infusion: case report and literature review.

The common side effects associated with the use of prostaglandins in newborn infants include apnoea, hyperthermia, diarrhoea, skin flushing and oedema. Periosteal reaction or cortical thickening of the bones, also known as cortical hyperostosis, is associated with a prolonged use of prostaglandins. This is a radiological diagnosis; therefore, its occurrence is most likely underestimated.

High burden of invasive Streptococcus agalactiae disease in South African infants.

The epidemiology of invasive Streptococcus agalactiae (GBS) disease was evaluated in South African children. Records of 208/220 children in whom GBS was isolated between January 1997 and December 1999 were reviewed. These included 63%, 31.