Society for AIDS in Africa launches scientific journal
The Society for AIDS in Africa (SAA), custodian and organiser of the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA), has launched a scientific journal aimed at bridging the critical gaps in African-led research.
The journal is aimed at providing a dedicated platform for high-quality scientific work on HIV and AIDS, as well as other infectious diseases affecting the continent.
Known as African Journal for AIDS and Infectious Diseases (AJAID), the journal, which would be an open-access journal online, would be published as and when enough materials had been received and approved for publication and would be in both French and English.
The journal, which was launched by the President of SAA, Dr David Parirenyatwa Pagwesese, during the 23rd ICASA hosted by Ghana from December 3 to 8, coincided with the 35th anniversary celebration of the establishment of SAA.
Under-representation
Dr Pagwesese said there was under-representation of African research in global medical journals.
He said despite the continent being disproportionately affected by the HIV and AIDS epidemic, research that captured the nuances of African socio-cultural, economic and structural realities often struggled to gain international visibility and influence.
The journal was, therefore, committed to prioritising studies that offered context-specific interventions and advancing local solutions that were practical, scalable and effective within African health systems and communities.
He said by focusing on locally relevant inquiry, AJAID aimed to directly inform public, health policy makers, clinicians and community leaders, translating research findings immediately into actionable improvement in patient care and prevention strategies.
Dr Pagwesese said every year, SAA received a lot of abstracts, saying all these abstracts would be fed into the journal.
ICASA Director and SAA Coordinator, Luc Armand H. Bodea, said the journey to establish the journal began more than 10 years ago, and appealed to the media to spread the news about the introduction of the journal.
The Committee Chairperson of AJAID, Professor Morenike Upong, said for too long, the narrative and the data driving global health policy had been fragmented, often missing the unique insight generated by African researchers working on the front line.
AJAID, she said, was not just another journal; it was a declaration that African science deserves a dedicated, authoritative stage.
Dr Munyah Saruchera, the Director, Africa Centre for Inclusive Health Management, said the journal would serve as a hub of knowledge exchange, strengthen collaboration between Africa's institutions and global partners and advance stage five of the Sustainable Development Goal about gender equality through editorial policies.
