The birth of Journal of African Neonatology

Abstract

It is with equal measures of pride, hope and excitement that we announce the first edition of the Journal of African Neonatology, the academic journal of the African Neonatal Association (ANA).

The creation of an academic journal was a high priority for the nascent organisation: to give voice to African neonatal research, by African researchers. At present almost all the world’s neonatal research is undertaken, and reported, in high income settings despite the fact that the vast majority of neonatal disease and deaths occur in low-income settings, especially in Africa. Addressing the 1.1 million newborn deaths a year in Africa is one of the most pressing needs for the global community. The information that we need to guide strategies and decision-making to solve the problems of Africa’s neonates will only be found here in Africa. The research priorities need to be determined by clinicians, public health workers and communities on the ground here in Africa. We need researchers to partner with each other and the global community to start answering the questions about what we need to do, how to do it, where and when. There is currently so little published information about neonatal care in Africa- with this first edition we are trying to trigger a continuous process of production of quality scientific research by African researchers for the resolution of specific African problems.
Research projects are one of the biggest catalysts of collaboration in medicine- indeed the African Neonatal Association was born out of a pan-African research project. Africa is home to the world’s largest Francophone community and it is only appropriate that the journal be bilingual. It is hoped that in the future we can accommodate other widely spoken languages such as Portuguese and Arabic to build bridges over the linguistic divides that isolate us from each other. We were exceptionally lucky to be able to call upon experienced and respected African academics from across the continent to be editors of this journal and are deeply indebted and grateful to them for their immense contribution, both to African neonatology in general, but also to the creation and custodianship of this journal. They are:

Pr Clement Ezechukwu (Nigeria)
Pr Karim Manji (Tanzania)
Pr Papa Moctar Faye (Senegal)
Pr Ye Diarra (Burkina Faso)
Pr Ousmane Ndiaye (Senegal)
Pr Britt Nakstad (Botswana)
Pr Daynia Ballot (South Africa)
Dr Franck Houndjahoue (Central Africa Republic)

And thanks to you, our readers, for joining us on this first issue. We have papers from across the continent, including Senegal, Nigeria, Mozambique, South Africa and Ghana. We look forward to a long relationship of academic discourse, to systematically reveal new information and accelerate our urgent fight against neonatal mortality in Africa. 

Dr Alex Stevenson         Pr Ousmane Ndiaye
President of ANA          Vice President of ANA