Emergence of African Bioethics Explored at Law Colloquium

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Leader of the Health Law and Ethics Research Group at the School of Law Professor Donrich Thaldar - in collaboration with the International Association for Bioethics and Genetics Network - hosted the first instalment of a colloquium series on African Philosophy, Genetics and Genomics.

With more than 100 participants joining from around the world on the Zoom platform, the webinar was a great success.

A warm welcome address was given by the President of the Pan African Congress for Ethics and Bioethics Professor Pierre Effa, who shared with the participants his vision of African bioethics as being on “the side of life”. This was followed by a presentation by Professor Thaddeus Metz of the University of Pretoria - a scholar widely regarded as the leading researcher on the African philosophical concept of Ubuntu.

Metz introduced the concept of Afro-communal bioethics, and gave a persuasive explanation of why African values should be applied to bioethics, and what this would entail.

There were also presentations by (1) Dr Ike Iyioke of Michigan State University in the United States, who shared his theory of bio-eco-communitarianism, enlightening participants on how African bioethics could be applied to environmental issues; (2) Professor Olubunmi Ogunrin of the University of Liverpool in England, who shared his innovative research which revealed a generational gap in African communities and how they think about participation in research studies; and (3) Dr Mavis Machirori of Newcastle University in England, who spoke on how there could potentially be a synthesis between Western bioethics and African bioethics to produce a bioethics which speaks to the views of contemporary Africans, especially those living in modernised settings.

The colloquium ended with a panel discussion moderated by senior lecturer at the School of Law Dr Freddy Mnyongani where the panel of presenters collectively fielded questions from participants who showed keen interest in wanting to know more about the subject of African bioethics.

In closing, Thaldar thanked the speakers and participants saying: ‘This colloquium was but a first step in the Health Law and Ethics Research Group’s endeavour to put the spotlight on African perspectives on global issues such as genetics and genomics.’

Words: Bonginkosi Shozi and Lungile Ngubelanga

Image: Supplied