Editorial 1
The Sudan Journal of Health Sciences: This
is how the Second Issue of the Journal was published during the Internecine
Khartoum War.
Hasan Abuaisha, FRCP.
Editor-in-Chief
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the
Worlds, and peace and blessings be upon the faithful Messenger of Allah, our
Master Mohammed, and upon all his family and companions. Below are some
thoughts and observations from the editor-in-chief of the Sudan Journal of
Health Sciences (SJHS).
The Journal began its
publication in January 2023, after preparation that took a full year before. SJHS
has its main office at Alfajr College of Science and Technology (ACST) in
Khartoum. It is a Journal open to partnerships from other Universities and
Colleges in Sudan, as it bears the name of the Sudan, homeland of all Sudanese.
The Journal’s administration, in agreement with the senior management of
ACST decided to publish the Journal three times a year initially, and
then gradually increase the number of annual issues. The stated goal of the Journal
is to encourage scientific research from all parts of Sudan and neighboring
countries; especially prompting young researchers and faculty staff to conduct
joint research for the purpose of answering scientific research questions and
challenges in Sudan.
The first issue of the Journal
was published successfully during January to April 2023, and was well received
by readers, and distinguished researchers from different specializations in
health sciences. Then preparation started for the second issue, May to August
2023. However, the Khartoum war that suddenly broke out on April 15, 2023; Its
aggressiveness was beyond imagination, as things were turned upside down
throughout the Sudanese capital, and daily life in all institutions came to a
halt with astonishing speed.
In the following weeks, news came
successively of the disruption and sabotage of all State institutions in the
various aspects of the civil service and the private sector. Educational
institutions were not spared. At least 104 institutions of higher education,
public and private, were partially or completely destroyed, as stated in the
report of the Higher Education Committee to list the losses (see Professor Mohammed
Elbagir’s Editorial article). (1)
In this issue of the Journal,
Professor Mohammed Elbagir describes how Al-Fajr College was able to withstand
these challenges and pay special attention to graduate students in all its
programs. The training of clinical medicine students was completed and the
final examinations were held, in cooperation with Iqraa College in the Fadasi town
near Wad Madani City, the capital of Gezira State in Sudan. With the help of
number of professors from Khartoum and Gezira states. (1)
Alfajr College Research Center leads
the scientific research and publishing in the College, and the SJHS represents
the window through which the World sees the research activity of Alfajr College
and the Universities that cooperate with it in this field. The big challenge
was publishing the Journal’s second issue, which coincided with the
beginning of the war on April 15, 2023. The war resulted in the migration and
scattering of the editors responsible for the magazine in the various states of
Sudan and abroad. Thus, the offices of the ACST in Khartoum remained completely
abandoned. We consulted with the Journal’s management about overcoming
this ordeal and we decided to communicate via electronic media and edit
scientific articles using those media.
The challenge was great, and the
editors worked on the various articles that the reader will find in this issue.
There were many consultations with different scientists in the field of medical
statistics and other specialties, as per the need to the published articles.
I am pleased to thank all those who
contributed to editing and producing this issue, and I especially thank the
Chairman of the Board of Trustees of ACST, Professor Mubarak Al-Majzoub, who
has been in frequent contact with us to reassure and encourage the progress of
the Journal. Likewise, the Dean of the College, Professor Mohammed Elbagir,
has been following up on the timely publication of the Journal. All
editorial board members made extraordinary efforts at a time when the means of
communication, the Internet and electrical current, were in a state of constant
irregularity. I especially thank Professor Ishag Adam, a distinguished
researcher at Qaseem University in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, who kindly
wrote an editorial article on pain-relieving drugs during pregnancy, commenting
on Dr. Azhari Al-Nour Haj Al-Amin and his colleagues entitled (Analgesics and Anti-inflammatory Prescription for Pregnant Women in
the Military and Khartoum Teaching Hospitals). His response was timely and helpful, which the reader will find in
this issue.
We are proud of publishing this
issue on time despite the war that took place in the capital of Sudan,
Khartoum, which became a deserted city to a large extent, as most of the
inhabitants fled with their lives. Despite that, we were able to complete this
work with the grace of Allah Almighty, and the diligence of all those involved
in the Journal.
The production of one issue of a
scientific Journal may seem reasonably doable in normal circumstances,
but in this exceptional situation in which the war disrupted most of the
administrative and scientific facilities in Khartoum, the issuance of the
second issue of the SJHS in the midst of the war in Khartoum is a valuable
achievement, and it indicates that ACST is keen to support scientific research
and publishing, under all circumstances.
In the end, do we say "Praise
be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds"
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