Pride Chigwedere

"This was an issue mainly planned by Africans, about Africa, for Africans," said Chigwedere, who received a medical degree from the University of Zimbabwe Medical School in November 1997. He currently is working on his thesis in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, focusing on the use of antiretroviral therapy to fight HIV/AIDS.

Chigwedere had been reviewing papers for BMJ last year when he received the invitation to help plan the special issue, which features guest editors Jimmy Volmink, professor and chair of primary care at the University of Cape Town, and Lola Dare, executive director of the African Council for Sustainable Development in Ibadan, Nigeria. Other editorial advisors included James Tumwine, associate professor of pediatrics at Makerere University and editor of the journal African Health Sciences, Ruth Nduati, leading AIDS researcher and professor at the University of Nairobi, and Dan Ncayiyana, professor and Vice Chancellor at the Durban Institute of Technology.

"Working with such people was intimidating, but I felt that I contributed significantly to generating ideas and materials for the theme," said Chigwedere. "We first had to identify two guest editors, which was followed by the formal announcement inviting submissions."

The journal received more than 300 submissions from which the editors chose a handful of pieces to run. Chigwedere himself reviewed three papers and helped arrange for both the Minister of Health in Botswana and the Deputy Minister of Health in Zimbabwe to be interviewed.

"Considering that BMJ is a top-rated journal, I was thrilled at the opportunity to serve as an editorial advisor for a special issue of the journal focused on topics close to my homeland and to my heart," said Chigwedere.