Framing an Indigenous Food Sovereignty Research Agenda.

Access to healthy and appealing food is essential for individuals to be able to live a healthy and quality life. For decades, food security has been a priority issue for public health professionals. Food sovereignty expands upon the concept of food insecurity (i.e., having access to nutritious and culturally relevant food) by incorporating people's rights to define their own food system. The expanded focus of food sovereignty on food systems prioritizes public health professionals' role in supporting environmental- and systems-level initiatives and evaluating their implications for health, economics, and the natural environment. Food sovereignty is of particular importance for Indigenous peoples (i.e., American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities). Colonization had demonstrable consequences, with many Indigenous communities being forcibly relocated from traditional lands, alongside the destruction of traditional food sources. Indigenous food sovereignty aligns with the sovereign nation status that American Indian tribes and Alaska Native communities have with the United States. Furthermore, the worldviews that incorporate Indigenous communities' relational responsibilities to care for their food systems, according to their traditional practices and beliefs (Coté, 2016; Morrison, 2011), uniquely positions Indigenous peoples to lead food sovereignty initiatives. In this article, we explore what is currently known regarding food sovereignty and health. We then discuss opportunities to expand the evidence on Indigenous food sovereignty's relationships with (1) health and well being, (2) economics, (3) the natural environment, and (4) programming facilitators and barriers.

Evolution and expansion of the One Health approach to promote sustainable and resilient health and well-being: A call to action.

One Health is a transdisciplinary approach used to address complex concerns related to human, animal, plant, and ecosystem health. One Health frameworks and operational tools are available to support countries and communities, particularly for the prevention and control of zoonotic diseases and antimicrobial resistance and the protection of food safety. However, One Health has yet to be implemented in a manner that fully considers the complexities and interconnectedness of the diverse influences that have impacts at a larger system level. This lack of consideration can undermine the sustainability of any positive outcomes. To ensure the One Health approach can function effectively within the new global context of converging and escalating health, social, economic, and ecological crises, it must evolve and expand in three overlapping dimensions: (1) Scope: the partners, knowledge, and knowledge systems included, (2) Approach: the techniques, methodologies, and scholarship considered, and (3) Worldview inclusivity: the interweaving of other worldviews together with the mainstream scientific worldview that currently predominates. Diverse partners and knowledge from outside the mainstream health and scientific sectors, including Indigenous peoples and representatives of local communities, and traditionally generated knowledge, must be included. These systems of knowledge can then be braided together with mainstream science to comprise a holistic framework for decision-making. Scholarship and methodologies being applied in other fields and contexts to solve complex challenges and manage uncertainty, such as collaborative governance, social-ecologic systems theory, and complexity science, must be recognized and incorporated. The spectrum of considered worldviews must also expand to authentically integrate the expanded scope and approach into action and sustainable impact. By increasing community and social engagement and by recognizing and entwining different worldviews, the plurality of disciplines, and traditional and scientific ways of knowing to address community concerns in the contexts in which they exist, we can ensure that One Health remains effective and true to its paradigm in our rapidly changing and complex world.

The perspectives of nursing students regarding the incorporation of African traditional indigenous knowledge in the curriculum.

BACKGROUND: South Africa was caught off guard by the student unrest in 2015 and 2016. This unrest was named the #fees must fall campaign. During this campaign, students raised the issue of decolonisation of the curriculum, challenging the higher education fraternity and the academic community. This was based on the fact that the existing curriculum has inadequate content on African traditional indigenous knowledge (ATIK), and continues to use the Western approach to address the needs of a multicultural, multiracial and multi-ethnic societies. Institutions responded by initiating dialogues regarding decolonisation of the curriculum in senates, scholars and between different health professional bodies. AIM: This article aimed to explore and describe the perspectives of nursing students regarding incorporating ATIK into the curriculum. METHODS: Using a participatory transformative approach, researchers and participants worked collaboratively to inform social change. Participants comprised nursing students. The academics, traditional health practitioners, indigenous knowledge holders and primary health care nurses formed the panellists. Data were collected through one communal dialogue workshop, which lasted for 8 hours, tea and lunch included. Data were analysed thematically. RESULTS: Students' perspectives emerged strongly as four themes, namely, politics of identity, displacement and distortion, curriculum content and institutional resistance. Students expressed that the current education system results in an identity crisis. The existing curriculum does not adequately convey an understanding of ATIK; it is displaced and distorted. CONCLUSION: Nursing science has great potential to incorporate the wealth of ATIK into its curriculum. In spite of a vibrant and rich cultural heritage, the ATIK specific to nursing sciences still needs to be incorporated into the existing curriculum in a responsive and relevant manner.