Pathological basis of symptoms and crises in sickle cell disorder: implications for counseling and psychotherapy

Sickle Cell Disorder (SCD) is a congenital hemoglobinopathy. There is little in literature regarding the psychological variables affecting individuals living with SCD and all of the significant people around them. There are also limited numbers of trained clinical psychologists and genetic counselors to cater for the psychotherapeutic needs of individuals living with SCD. Even among those who have been trained, only a few might have fully grasped the complexities of the disease pathology

Women's Visibility in Decision Making Processes in Africa—Progress, Challenges, and Way Forward

Concerns over women's marginalization and invisibility in Africa policy-making, remains a fervent international discourse. These concerns are likely due to restrictive laws, cultural diversities and practices, institutional barriers, as well as disproportionate access to quality education, healthcare, and resources. Reversing these discriminatory practices is not impossible, and can be achieved by implementing the right mechanisms across the continent. The process toward increasing the visibility of women in decision-making across the continent, requires an understanding of the progress made so far, the challenges faced and the way forward. As a consequence, this paper conducted a review of literature to determine the key decision-making organs in Africa, the current status of African women and women's organizations in decision-making, existing institutional policies demanding female involvement in decision-making and the progress made in the continent so far. This paper will also provide recommendations to accelerate the way forward in view of Agenda 2030

Twenty-first Century Slavery: A Psychosocial Exploration of Human Trafficking, Migrant Smuggling, and Enslavement in Africa

This paper seeks to investigate human trafficking, migrant smuggling, and enslavement as global phenomena, public health concerns, gross violations of human rights, and crimes against humanity and the state. The twenty-first century slavery revolves around illegal control, including forced labor, debt bondage, forced marriage, slavery and slavery-like practices, and human trafficking. Thus, SDG Targets 5.2 and 8.7 stipulated that immediate and effective measures should be taken by all concerns to eradicate forced labor- end modern slavery, human trafficking, sexual and other types of exploitation, as well as to secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labor among others. The desktop approach was used to identify the varied forms of these menaces and their perpetrators. A wide range of secondary sources of data in peer-reviewed and edited conference proceedings, workshop proceedings, and published articles in local and international journals were consulted to obtain an in-depth appreciation of the problem being investigated. The paper further highlighted the psychosocial effects of human trafficking, migrant smuggling, and enslavement. The article concludes with recommendations for ending all forms of slavery in the global community in line with the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action

Innovative Family Therapy for Households in Global Complex Humanitarian Crises

The relief societies are diverse and consist of humanitarian organizations and humanitarian NGOs. They provide emergency aid interventions to victims of armed conflicts, protracted wars, famines, and natural disasters across the globe. The relief societies have witnessed multiple arrays of complex humanitarian catastrophes affecting families in varying degrees in a global dimension and impact. These societies have been providing lifesaving assistance and protection for victims of war, orphans, and vulnerable groups. They have been reducing the impact of humanitarian crises on families and communities, providing aid for recovery and improving preparedness for future emergencies for moral, altruistic, and emotional reasons. Crisis-impacted families may be located far from the fragile locale or in the eye of the storm. Their losses may be psychosocial, economic, or psychological distress or mental health issues. At the onset of the Russian–Ukrainian War, families across the global community are already counting their losses. These call for novel therapeutic interventions among clinicians and counseling psychotherapists. This chapter, therefore, highlights existing strategies for innovative therapeutic measures for families affected by complex humanitarian emergencies

A Scoping Analysis of the Psychosocial and Health Implications of COVID-19 Comorbidity-Related Complications in the African States: Recent Developments in Counseling and Therapeutic Options

Since the upsurge of Coronavirus in 2019, the WHO and the US CDC have been detecting and characterizing new variants and providing updates to healthcare workers, the public, and global partners on its spread and effects on patients with noncommunicable diseases and co-morbid ailments. Epidemiology and virologic evidence suggest that COVID-19 and its subsequent deadly variants have been associated with mental and neurological manifestations, including delirium or encephalopathy, agitation, acute cerebrovascular disease, meningoencephalitis, impaired sense of smell or taste, anxiety, depression, and sleep problems. While data on these complications may be available in the global north and south, there is a paucity of literature in most African States. Recent developments in COVID-19-related theories and concepts include ethical principles for clinical, counseling, psycho-therapeutic, and rehabilitation options for special and vulnerable populations, such as pediatric patients, pregnant women, mothers, older people, PLWDs, and other marginalized groups. However, there is no known coordinated and multidisciplinary continuum of clinical, counseling, and psychotherapy COVID-19 care pathways for symptomatic and asymptomatic patients and their families in the African States. Hence, the need for this scoping analysis of existing literature on the psycho-social and health implications of COVID-19 Comorbidity-Related Complications for vulnerable persons in developing societies

INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF GENDER MAINSTREAMING IN NIGERIA’S TERTIARY

Women have been historically marginalized in all spheres of life including social, economic and political spheres. This anomaly has been recognized globally and it has become accepted that issues of women’s human rights are important for any meaningful development to take place. Apart from social justice, which demands equal opportunity for all citizens, it is smart economics to plan with both halves of one’s population because it benefits society as a whole. In consonance with this global standpoint, and coupled with Civil Society engagements, the Nigerian government has been overt in engaging in gender responsive policies and programmes, including the development of the National Gender Policy in 2006 which puts credence on strengthening institutions and systems for gender mainstreaming and building partnerships with male led institutions to deliver results for girls and women. The policy recognises gender education as a major pillar in the process of achieving gender equality and women empowerment through transformative development process. Although the process has been somewhat slow, the Nigerian tertiary institutions are now becoming responsive to the engendering process that is, ensuring that academic programmes and the learning environment are gender responsive. Although the gender profile in Nigerian tertiary institutions is still abysmally poor, a number of universities are now adopting gender mainstreaming strategies in knowledge production and in practice. Using Ekiti State University as a case study, the paper presents gender mainstreaming strategies and mechanisms adopted in Nigerian tertiary institutions, noting achievements, challenges and prospects. Basic gender profile of the university is presented, while intervention programmes and initiatives at bridging gender gaps and institutionalising gender mainstreaming as an administrative tool are processed and analysed