For several decades, the focus on the health of the rapidly growing population of children in sub-Saharan Africa was on infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria. The focus has now widened to include the effects of natural and manmade humanitarian disasters, extreme poverty, and sociocultural practices such as the Almajiri street children (ie, children from northern Nigeria who are sent away from home to study under the care of Muslim scholars, but who end up as street children begging and engaging in menial labour to earn a living) and child marriage, which prevent millions of children from going to school. With decreasing childhood mortality, there is a growing shift towards tackling non-communicable diseases such as child and adolescent mental disorders.
