ABSTRACT
The term “sub-Saharan Africa” is used to describe the vast area of the African continent that lies south of the Sahara desert. It comprises forty-eight countries usually grouped into five geographic regions. East Africa refers to Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Sudan and Somalia. West African countries are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. Central Africa includes the Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Rwanda and Burundi. Southern African countries include Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Additionally, African island nations include Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe (in West Africa), Comoros, Madagascar and Mauritius (in Southern Africa), and Seychelles (in East Africa). The region north of the Sahara desert, commonly referred to as North Africa, is not addressed in this chapter because of its marked socio-cultural differences from the rest of the continent.
