The leading killers of human beings are no longer the viruses, bacteria and other microbes that have lurked for millennia in our sewage, in our domesticated animals and in the parasites that bite or burrow into us. For the first time in recorded history, non-communicable diseases, such as cancer, heart disease and stroke, are the leading cause of death in every region of the world. That includes Africa.
This is a remarkable, largely unheralded, achievement. It brings important and little-understood challenges.
In 2011, infectious diseases stopped being the leading cause of death in Africa. By 2015, only 44 per cent of African deaths were the result of diseases such as dysentery, pneumonia, malaria, tuberculosis and HIV. That is still high. In most regions of the world, infectious diseases account for less than 10 per cent of deaths.