FAITH-INSPIRED HEALTH CARE IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE SPRING 2014 ISSUE

This special issue of The Review of Faith & International Affairs is comprised of seven articles aiming to strengthen the evidence on faith-inspired engagement in health in sub-Saharan Africa. The field of enquiry is diverse, with few foundational texts, few standardized frameworks for reference, and a wildly varied terminology. In fact, this variation in terminology often results in a nearly impenetrable field of acronyms for the uninitiated, ranging from religious entities, faith-inspired institutions (FIIs), faith-based organizations (FBOs) and the like. That variation is part of the puzzle, and as a result, newcomers tend to struggle to find the points of access. And, generally, substantial time and resources are spent in costly meetings re-treading introductory ground, rather than pushing the debate and evidence further. This logically results in repeated calls for more systematic research and more theoretical structuring of the field of inquiry.