The 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak thrust West Africa and West Africans onto a global stage as people carefully followed the health crisis out of fear that it would spread far beyond Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. While Ebola certainly caught the attention of the world, questions surrounding disease, health, and healing have always been important parts of daily life throughout African history. This course explores public health and the history of medicine in Africa by tracing the different ways people understood both sickness and wellness and responded to a range of epidemics. We will examine issues like colonialism, environmental change, economic relationships, migration, and global politics and how these factors connect to historical and contemporary issues in public health. Throughout the course of the semester, we will explore definitions and conceptualizations of health, illness, disability, mental health, doctors, healers, and medicine in the continent of Africa.