NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Many countries in Africa are poised to be part of the next big wave of emerging markets. Africa is currently the second-fastest growing region in the world, and new growth is being driven by continued urbanization, a rising middle-class and an abundance of natural resources.

But Africa’s fast economic expansion has brought its own set of health challenges to the continent. Today, life expectancy in Africa is 15 years less than the global average. Child and maternal death rates are alarmingly high, and millions of others suffer from preventable and treatable diseases, such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.