This book examines the historical and current state of health and the health of the African people, including the Arab North, impacted by such factors as geography and natural elements, cultural and colonial traditions, and competing biomedical and traditional systems. It also looks at technological advances, poverty and health disparities, utilization of resources, and international presence, as reflected by the work of the World Health Organization, and structural adjustments imposed by the IMF and the World Bank.

Mario J. Azevedo is Professor and Chair of the Department of History and Philosophy and Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Jackson State University, USA. He has served as Chair of the Africana Studies Department at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Associate Dean of the School of Health Sciences, and Interim Dean of the College of Public Service at Jackson State University. Azevedo has published a number of articles and books on African History and Health. His most recent book, Health and the State of Health Care in Mississippi, was published in 2015.

Preface Contribution to the Literature on History and Health in Africa.- Chapter 1 Public Health in Africa: Theoretical Framework.- Chapter 2 Traditional African Therapeutics: Disease Causation, Efficacy, and Agency.- Chapter 3 Medicine, Culture, and People's Options.- Chapter 4 The Colonial Medical System(s) and the Health of Africans.- Chapter 5 British "Health Effort" in Colonial Africa.- Chapter 6 Health: The French and Their Colonial Empire.- Chapter 7 The Health of Africans: Portuguese, Belgian, Italian, Spanish, and German Rule.- Chapter 8 Colonial Rule: Missionaries and "Mercenaries" and the Health of Africans.