In this course students will be introduced to contemporary development and health issues by examining historical experiences, social, political, economic and environmental processes. This approach will help highlight the vast diversity and address some of the many questions about the region including: What processes underlie famine and food insecurity? What are the underlying causes of the conflict and genocide in some regions? What processes explain spatial disparities in health, or regional and gender differences in HIV rates and the outbreak of rare diseases like Ebola? The course will rely on case studies from the Sub-Saharan (SSA), one of the most diverse and intriguing regions in the world, to provide an understanding of the complexity in each topic.