Africa, Sub-Saharan

Sub-Saharan Africa is the area primarily encompassing countries south of the Sahara desert. This area has seen some of the largest international disaster relief operations in modern times, with relief activities continuously being undertaken in some part of the Sub-Saharan region during the past five decades. As a result of underdeveloped disaster management, healthcare, and agricultural production systems, combined with internal conflicts, the region has become more vulnerable to disasters.

Disasters in the sub-Saharan region have included drought, leading to food shortages in countries such as Somalia, Ethiopia, and southern Africa 2000–03; diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS),

Cholera, Malaria, and Tuberculosis; flooding in Mozambique in 1999; plagues of locusts in the Sahel region in Mauritania, Mali, and Niger; internal political ...