Prime Highlights
- Canada’s initial Black-led medical journal has now gone live in Edmonton.
- It aims to improve Black health outcomes and spotlight underemphasized medical research.
Key Facts
- The Canadian Nigerian Medical Journal is a peer-reviewed journal initiated by CANPAD.
- It focuses on topics relevant to Black Canadian health, education, and clinical practice.
Key Background
Canada has made a milestone in healthcare and academia with the introduction of its first Black medical journal. The Canadian Nigerian Medical Journal made its debut at a two-day conference in Edmonton, a significant achievement for Black presence in medicine. Under the leadership of the Canadian Association of Nigerian Physicians and Dentists (CANPAD), the journal will be a specific platform for research, case studies, and policy discussion on Black communities within Canada.
The Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Moses Ademola, also pointed out the imperative necessity of a journal that addresses the realities of Black health professionals and the populations they serve. He opined that long enough, Black-specific medical research has not had representation in Canadian scholarly communities. This journal provides the voice so long needed, amplifying the experiences and solutions developed within the community itself.
The journal covers all fields of disciplines—running from clinical medicine and dentistry all the way to mental health, public health, women’s and children’s health, health equity, and global health. It is also open to international writers whose research involves problems of health that are relevant to the global Black community. This gives the journal a national influence as well as international scope.
Most importantly, this journal is an answer to an increased imperative for healthcare practice and research equity. Through the COVID-19 pandemic, stark divisions in care access, outcomes, and representation became evident among Black Canadians. Institutions were subsequently challenged to increasingly espouse data-informed, community-centered activities. The Canadian Nigerian Medical Journal answers with a professionally peer-reviewed, culturally appropriate venue for academic scholarship.
The journal’s publication not only celebrates Black excellence within the health sector but is also leading the way for systemic transformation in the long term in terms of the collection, understanding, and use of health information within Canadian policy and practice.
