Public Health in Africa

Nowhere are global public health challenges more acute than in sub-Saharan Africa. With just 13 percent of the world’s population, this region carries 24 percent of the global burden of disease. The continent’s immense disease burden and frail health systems are embedded in a broader context of poverty, underdevelopment, conflict, and weak or ill-managed government institutions. These complex, interrelated challenges will ultimately demand sustained, patient, and integrated responses.

This report examines these challenges and makes recommendations for a strategic U.S. response by the Obama administration.