title: Addressing social responsibility in medical education: the African way.
abstract: Indigenous sub-Saharan societies have, over the millennia, lived and socialised within the unwritten 'rules' of the 'Ubuntu' or similar philosophies that emphasises holistic 'humanness', and which is a form of 'social responsibility'. This article looks into some relevant social responsibility aspects of medical education in the South African context, with particular emphasis on how these aspects have been addressed. Apartheid was, by its very nature, incompatible with social responsibility for the majority of South Africans, but one medical school that was a non-complicit product of apartheid succeeded in fulfilling a socially responsible mission. Thus, this article implicitly identifies what South Africa, Africa and the global Health Professions Education community could learn from these trail-blazing experiences.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Walter Sisulu University, P/bag X1, Mthatha 5117, South Africa. ekwizera@wsu.ac.za
authors.forename: Enoch N
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Kwizera
authors.forename: Jehu E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Iputo
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D003479:Curriculum; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000379:methods*; D006291:Health Policy; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D007802:Language; D010686:Philosophy, Medical; D013019:South Africa