ABSTRACT
Africa has unique problems and challenges. Life expectancy is below 50 years in most countries on the continent compared to the world average of 66 (5) . Based on socioeconomic and human development ratings, the United Nations has classified 49 countries as Least Developed Countries (LDCs or Fourth World countries) and currently 34 African countries are currently rated as LDCs. The total population of Africa is estimated at 522 million (6) . There are, however, very little data available on the epidemiology of urinary incontinence on the continent. A Medline search using keywords “incontinence,” “Africa” followed by a sequential Medline search using “incontinence” and each of the 56 African countries revealed scanty data on incontinence with only a handful of poor quality studies reporting basic epidemiological data such as prevalence. There were 33 papers reporting on fistulae and looking specifically at studies from sub-Saharan Africa, but there were none looking at overactive bladder and only two reporting on stress incontinence.
