Abstract
Health care delivery in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has evolved from traditional approaches to modern Western approach to health services. Hundreds of years before the arrival of Western colonial governments, health care in SSA was organized around traditional health care providers (Waite, 2000). At the beginning of the nineteenth century, with the onset of colonialism, the introduction and expansion of modern health services to the local population was driven by the establishment of health facilities in rural areas by Christian missionaries. This expansion was aided at a later stage by the expansion of the health workforce through the introduction of local African health workers who had returned from the Second World War; these African soldiers were trained in basic medical skills as part of the war effort (Bruchhausen, 2003; Dube, 2009). Since gaining independence, local leadership in SSA countries has prioritized health; the sector has received increased budgetary allocations, more health facilities have been constructed, and medical training institutions have been established to address health workforce needs of the countries in the region (Wamai, 2009).
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Mala, P. (2018). Health. In: Khayesi, M. (eds) Rural Development Planning in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95297-7_9
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