African Perspectives in Bioethics and Medical Principles

Giving the progressive developments in the affairs of humans and creation in general from the stone age to the AI generation, there are residues of adverse impacts from these advancements that preoccupy the bioethical community. Different cultures and currents have fared well in proffering guiding principles towards more egalitarian and responsible human activities to combat these harmful impacts. While some of these principles are globally celebrated, some are more evident within a particular culture with great potentials at the global front. The African culture is one of such beautiful examples. The African communities tackle their ethical and bioethical issues, among other things, from their moral principles inherent in the African culture and worldview. For a long time, the recognition of these African moral principles at the global bioethics has been on grounds of fair play.

Consequently, this book "African Perspectives in Bioethics and Medical Principles" presents the urgency of injecting into the mainstream of global bioethics the African moral principles by exposing and analyzing the African moral principles as a product of the African culture, philosophy and belief system and an ethical guide applicable in resolving bioethical issues. This project covers the foundational truths that constitute the African bioethical realities and medical ethics with special focus on African moral principles and principlism (the globally favored bioethical method). Principlism, a brainchild of Tom Beauchamp and James Childress, constitutes of a four-principle ethical approach in healthcare which consists of respect for autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice. In no particular order or importance, these principles are squared against medical moral dilemmas to arrive at sound ethical decisions.

The African moral principles are typified in eco-bio-communitarianism, the family as the primary social unit, and the concept of a person as a rational self whose social relationships rather than individualism provide the basis for ethical judgement. Hence, resolving ethical dilemmas in medicine among Africans has been ongoing but has experienced a mix of Western bioethical approach typified in principlism and ethical models of the African culture. In fact, most African patients and their families are often faced with ethical dilemmas or conflicting moral values in the application of the Western style of bioethical decision-making process. Hence these pertinent questions: Is the universality of moral theory/principles a functional possibility in bioethics? Is the Western bioethical approach to medical dilemmas sufficient for all cultures? What contributions have African moral principles made to bioethics for Africans and beyond?

In its detailed response, the book reemphasizes the non-universality of a single moral theory/principles and knowledgeability of convergence of ethical principles in a complementary manner towards a robust biomedical principle. By so doing, it establishes in bioethics the composition of the African ethical principles, its peculiarity as ethical guide in medical decision-making process using statistical data, and its place within the mainstream bioethics complementing the global methods in bioethics. In summary, the African bioethical method typified in eco-bio-communitarianism, cultural diversity, social justice etc. balances the Western principlism towards more formidable and universalized principles within the biomedical field as Afro-principlism. This contributes to the global conversation in bioethics.