HSOC 10: Health and Societies - Africa: Overview

READ THIS. READ THIS. READ THIS. And take its advice to heart.

The Penn Library Web's subject/collection page on our African collection. Identifies major e-resources and provides links to more.

Covers the year's major domestic political and socioeconomic developments, with chapters on individual countries. To read older annual country chapters, view the most recent version and look for links to years back to 2004.

Provides overviews and basic statistics for all countries, focusing on the present state of each. The most recent edition is available at the Van Pelt Reference Desk. Use the regional version of the Yearbook - Africa South of the Sahara - to find more information on your country.

Similar to Europa but with briefer overviews.

Giant Encyclopedia great for an online overview of the history and contemporary status of a country.

"Presents a description and analysis of the historical setting and the social, economic, political, and national security systems and institutions of countries throughout the world." Coverage often ends a decade or more ago.

Giant Encyclopedia great for an online overview of the history and contemporary status of a country.

Award-winning reference work, offering brief articles on historical, cultural, and political topics, with useful bibliographies.

with Supplement (for additional African cultural groups).
Articles describe specific African cultural groups (e.g., Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa) with historical, social, political, economic, linguistic, religious, and other information.
HINT! Try searching within "all editions" for your country name or for a cultural group you know is in your country. The encyclopedia provides lots of alternate names and spellings.

The standard Western multivolume history. Especially useful for its bibliographic essays.

The African response to the Cambridge History of Africa. Be patient - UNESDOC delivers each volume as one big image-PDF file!

A series that's useful for learning obsolete geographic and political terminology. Each volume focuses on one country. Although specialists have criticized titles in this series, succeeding editions have improved. Individual titles will be found in various locations throughout Van Pelt Library, with most recent editions in Van Pelt Reference.

The best one-stop information service for health information across the African continent and for individual African countries. Provides the current Atlas of African Health Statistics, recent WHO and regional health policy documents, and quick access to basic nation-level health and healthcare indicators.

The World Health Organization web presence offers two parallel streams of information - from the Geneva headquarters and from the Regional Offices. BOTH web streams work together to give you relevant information about your country, and this web page will get you to the HQ Country pages (below), the Regional Office's web site, and to the RO Country pages.

Includes a country brief, health profile, and status reports on selected health indicators. If you see a "more country data" link then click it!

Particularly useful for older Country Cooperation Strategy documents.

Very useful regional and national reports, often in a recurring series, on current state of people's capability to lead long and healthy lives, to be knowledgeable, and to have a decent standard of living. Presents analyses and statistical information on health, education, public administration, pollution, employment, and many other topics. Each country page has links, "National Human Development Reports for [country]" and "UNDP Country Office" - USE THEM! Produced by UN Development Programme.

Intended to assist the World Bank’s work in the health sector by describing conditions and diseases that contributed most to the overall burden of disease and
by identifying ways to prevent and manage these causes of ill health.

"The only medical textbook designed specifically for doctors and medical students working in sub-Saharan Africa."

Offers lengthy articles on medical anthropology topics worldwide, including comparative cultural perspectives on specific diseases and health conditions, and theoretical approaches to cross-cultural health research. Also presents lengthy "cultural portraits" of specific cultures, focusing on their medical beliefs: cultures are selected from the Encyclopedia of World Cultures.

Provides brief surveys of health conditions and the most serious health problems facing countries. Nearly comprehensive in its coverage.

A handy website providing information and web links for specific diseases, and links to Africa-related health news sources, organizations, national health ministeries for African countries, hospitals, and web sites on Penn in Africa. Funded by Merck.