ABOUT THIS BOOKNew perspectives on the changing epidemiology of sub-Saharan Africa.
Epidemiological Change and Chronic Disease in Sub-Saharan Africa offers new and critical perspectives on the causes and consequences of recent epidemiological changes in sub-Saharan Africa, with a special focus on the increasing incidence of “non-communicable” and chronic conditions. In this book, historians, social anthropologists, public health experts, and social epidemiologists present important insights into epidemiological change in Africa beyond theories of “transition.” The volume covers a broad thematic range, including the trajectory of maternal mortality in East Africa, the smoking epidemic, the history of sugar consumption in South Africa, the causality between infectious and non-communicable diseases in Ghana and Belize, the complex relationships between adult hypertension and pediatric HIV in Botswana, and stories of cancer patients and their families in Kenya. In all, the volume provides insights drawn from historical perspectives and from the African social and clinical experience that are of value to students and researchers in global health, medical anthropology, public health, and African studies.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHYMegan Vaughan is a historian, anthropologist, and professor of African history and health at University College London. Kafui Adjaye-Gbewonyo is a social epidemiologist specializing in Africa. She is also a senior lecturer in public health at the University of Greenwich. Marissa Mika is a historian and ethnographer who works on issues where politics, science, technology, medicine intersect in contemporary Africa.