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International Conference

A Conference, one day, four thematic areas.

Oral presentations, posters, symposia and workshops. 

In sub-Saharan Africa, healthcare systems face a dual challenge: on the one hand, the technical and epidemiological management of pathologies amid multidimensional precarity; on the other, accounting for the lived experience, perception, and meaning that populations attribute to illness, the body, and healing.

Contemporary medicine, dominated by the biomedical model grounded in the positivist paradigm and Evidence-Based Medicine, often approaches the body as a machine, an instrument to be repaired (the body-object). Yet phenomenology restores priority to the body-subject in Merleau-Ponty’s sense, offering an understanding of the body as it is experienced from within.

This international conference seeks to move beyond this body-subject/body-object anthropological dualism within the African context, where the experience of illness is never purely individual, let alone strictly biological; it is embedded in a network of social relations, spiritual inheritances, and cosmological frameworks of meaning. Phenomenology thus offers the methodological tools needed to listen to, describe, and integrate these lived experiences of the sick without reducing them to mere irrationality. Four thematic axes have been selected:

Conférencier

Axis 1

Epistemology of Care and Phenomenology of Illness in Africa.

Axis 3

Phenomenological Methodologies in Multidisciplinary Health Research.

Please see the general guidelines for submitting papers

Axis 2

The Lived Body (Subject) and the Biological Body in Healthcare Practices.

Axis 4

Ethics of Care, Public Policy, and Cognitive Justice.

Calendar

Conference Timeline

September 15, 2026 :

Launch of the call for papers

November 30, 2026 :

Deadline for abstract submission.

Décembre 31,  2026 :

eadline for full-text submission.

January 15, 2027 :

Deadline for the Scientific Committee’s response.

January 20, 2027 :

Deadline for registration at preferential rates.

January 22, 2027 :

Publication date of the official program.

January 27, 2027 :

Start of the Conference.

Place

Croix-Rouge, Yaounde

Axis 1: Epistemology of Care and Phenomenology of Illness in Africa

Contributions to this axis aim to :

  • Articulate biomedical knowledge alongside the patient’s lived, existential knowledge;
 
  • Examine the phenomenology of pain, chronicity, and end-of-life care in light of african cultures;
 
  • Rethink the caregiver–patient relationship, moving from clinical observation toward phenomenological empathy.

Axis 2: The Lived Body (Subject) and the Biological Body in Healthcare Practices

Contributions to this axis aim to :

  • Examine the logics of the body and corporeality as grounded in communitary settings, where health is experienced through relational balance;
 
  • Study the phenomenology of traditional and integrative medicine in relation to perceptions of efficacy tied to endogenous knowledge.

Axis 3: Phenomenological Methodologies in Multidisciplinary Health Research

Contributions to this axis aim :

  • Highlight the contributions of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to the health sciences, particularly nursing science, public health, and clinical biology;
 
  • Gather self-narratives through explicitation/elicitation interviews with patients and local practitioners.

Axis 4: Ethics of Care, Public Policy, and Cognitive Justice

Contributions to this axis aim to :

  • Connect access to care and social vulnerability through the lens of so-called phenomenological justice;
  • Humanise hospitals and care spaces in Africa by shifting the focus from administrative efficiency toward the preservation of human dignity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Submit my paper

Key guidelines

Stages of the paper submission process

Proposals for papers must be submitted exclusively through the conference website no later than November 30.

To do so, please follow these steps:

  • Step 1: Access the submission platform via the following link: [Insert link]
  • Step 2: Click “Create an account” if you do not yet have one on this platform; or enter your login credentials (email; password) if you already have an account.
  • Step 3: Log in to your account, then, on the right, under the “Your Account” submenu, click “Submissions,” then “Submit a new paper.”
  • Step 4: Fill in all fields marked with a red asterisk, then click “Submit.”

NB: You will receive a confirmation email in your inbox acknowledging receipt of your submission.

Requirements for Abstracts

The abstract for oral or poster presentations based on empirical research, meta-analyses, meta-syntheses, or systematic reviews must include:

  • The research problem
  • The study’s objective or hypothesis
  • The methodology (research method, participants, sampling technique and size, data analysis strategy)
  • Main findings in relation to the objective or hypothesis
  • Conclusion
  • 4 to 6 keywords

The abstract for papers arising from theoretical reflection must include:

  • Introduction
  • Elements of the research problem
  • Objective
  • Brief presentation of the main ideas developed
  • Conclusion
  • 4 to 6 keywords

Texts must comply with the presentation standards for scientific writing (APA 6th edition).

Submission criteria and procedures
  • Submissions made by email will not be accepted.
  • Submissions must be made in French or English.
  • The title must not exceed 20 words.
  • The abstract must be 300 words, with a margin of up to 20 words.
Selection procedure and authors’ obligations
  • Submitting an abstract does not constitute registration for the conference.
  • Submitting an abstract entails a commitment that, if the abstract is accepted, the presenter will attend the conference and will have the financial resources necessary to ensure their participation (registration fees, travel, accommodation where applicable, etc.).
  • If the lead author is unable to attend, a co-author may deliver the presentation, provided the registration fee has been paid.
  • An author may submit several papers.
  • Only abstracts for which at least one author or co-author has paid the registration fee will be included in the conference program.
  • If a paper proposal is accepted, authors wishing to publish their work in the conference proceedings must submit the full text of the article no later than December 30, 2026.
Cancellation and Refund Policy

Any cancellation of participation and/or refund request must be made by email to the organizing committee (colloque20227@gress-……).

  • Cancellation before December 31, 2026: Full refund, less 25% for administrative fees.
  • Cancellation before January 15, 2027: Full refund, less 50% for administrative fees.
  • Cancellation from January 16, 2027 onward: No refund.

It is also possible to transfer one’s registration to another person. This is free of charge and must be done no later than December 15, 2026.

General Guidelines for the Submission of Full Texts

Each article submitted for publication in the conference proceedings must follow the general template, which can be downloaded by clicking the button below.

Scientific Committee

membre_actif

Chair of the Scientific Committee:

Prof. Luc ONAMBELE

ESS-UCAC

membre_actif

Co-chair of the Scientific Committee:

Cristina Garcia VIVAR

Public University of Navarre (UPNA)

FONYUY Bertrand

Head of the Scientific Committee Secretariat :

Dr Pulchérie ATEBA 

GRESS

membre_actif

Deputy Head 1 of the Scientific Committee Secretariat:

Dr Clarisse MEÑYENE NDONGO 

GRESS

membre_actif

Deputy Head 2 of the Scientific Committee Secretariat:

Normand Davy EBONDA

GRESS

FONYUY Bertrand

Member of the Scientific Committee:

NAASSIF SENI 

GRESS

Pr Eric BRETON

École des hautes études de santé publique de Rennes

Pr Francisco GUILLEN GRIMA

Université Publique de Navarre/ Public University of Navarre (UPNA)

Pr Françoise NGO SACK

Université de Douala

Pr Géraldo PISABARRO

Université Publique de Navarre/ Public University of Navarre (UPNA)

Pr Hortense GONSU

Université de Yaoundé I

Pr Ines AGUINAGA

Université Publique de Navarre/ Public University of Navarre (UPNA)

Pr Laeticia SAN MARTIN

Université Publique de Navarre/ Public University of Navarre (UPNA)

Pr Pierre ONGOLO ZOGO

Hôpital Central de Yaoundé (HCY)

Pr Serge ZEBAZE

Université de Yaoundé I

Pr Véronique PENLAP

Université de Yaoundé I

Pr Francisco GUILLEN GRIMA

Université Publique de Navarre/ Public University of Navarre (UPNA)

Dr Annie EPOTE 

Centre Pasteur du Cameroun

M. FONYUY Bertrand KIAFON

QHU

Dr Rosine Virginie NGONO ELOUNDOU

Hôpital Général de Yaoundé (HGY)

Dr Paul TALLA

Hôpital Général de Yaoundé (HGY)

Dr Suzanne BELINGA

Centre Pasteur du Cameroun

Dr Thierry EBOGO

Institut de recherche Médicales et de Plantes Médicinales

Dr Wilfried TSANGA TOUNA

Centre Pasteur du Cameroun (CPC)

Dr ATENGUENA Etienne

Hôpital Général de Yaoundé (HGY)

Dr Gisèle NKE ATEBA

Hôpital Central de Yaoundé (HCY)

Dr Martin Gael OYONO

Institut de recherche Médicales et de Plantes Médicinales