Background—misinformation and mistrust often undermines community vaccine uptake, yet information in rural communities, especially of developing countries, is scarce. This study aimed to identify major challenges associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine clinical trials among healthcare workers and staff in Uganda. Methods—a rapid exploratory survey was conducted over 5 weeks among 260 respondents (66% male) from healthcare centers across the country using an online questionnaire. Twenty-seven questions assessed knowledge, confidence, and trust scores on COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials from participants in 46 districts in Uganda. Results—we found low levels of knowledge (i.e., confusing COVID-19 with Ebola) with males being more informed than females (OR = 1.5, 95% CI: 0.7–3.0), and mistrust associated with policy decisions to promote herbal treatments in Uganda and the rushed international clinical trials, highlighting challenges for the upcoming Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccinations. Knowledge, confidence and trust scores were higher among the least educated (certificate vs. bachelor degree holders). We also found a high level of skepticism and possible community resistance to DNA recombinant vaccines, such as the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine. Preference for herbal treatments (38/260; 14.6%, 95% CI: 10.7–19.3) currently being promoted by the Ugandan government raises major policy concerns. High fear and mistrust for COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials was more common among wealthier participants and more affluent regions of the country. Conclusion—our study found that knowledge, confidence, and trust in COVID-19 vaccines was low among healthcare workers in Uganda, especially those with higher wealth and educational status. There is a need to increase transparency and inclusive participation to address these issues before new trials of COVID-19 vaccines are initiated.
Often times, contemporary health and epidemiological practices ignore indigenous information on HIV prevention. Colonial hegemony tends to replicate indigenous knowledge bases as primordial, superstitious, and lacking vivid scientific explanation to qualify the test for medical diagnostic study. Using an information science viewpoint and an anti-colonial discursive theory, this paper challenges the skewed discernment that it is only Western knowledge production that is considered legitimate knowledge. The authors argue that indigenous HIV/AIDS information exists and can be integrated into the curriculum to complement Western knowledge paradigms on adolescent HIV prevention.
This chapter examines the prospects of reaffirming the importance of Africa's indigenous knowledge in global scholarship. Since colonialism, there has been a persistent tendency for Western knowledge framers to demean African indigenous knowledge (AIK). This tendency has implications for the global cosmopolitan society where indigenous knowledge is commendably of benefit. The chapter suggests a convergence of Western knowledge and AIK bases to counter neocolonial hegemony in knowledge production. Such transformation supports the intellectualization and decolonization of the African university pedagogy by integration of indigenous knowledge. The attempt for colonialism to miseducate the colonized Africans suffocated the potential of AIK, a process that has been reproduced in post-colonial formal education. The chapter advocates for the reconsideration of the place and significance of AIK in the formal university pedagogy as a deliberate strategy to decolonize dominant hegemonic epistemology.
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