<P> Malaria is an endemic illness in Sub-Saharan Africa, where the majority of malaria cases and deaths worldwide occur . Routine immunization has been introduced in order to prevent measles . Onchocerciasis ("river blindness"), a common cause of blindness, is also endemic to parts of the region . More than 99% of people affected by the illness worldwide live in 31 countries therein . In response, the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC) was launched in 1995 with the aim of controlling the disease . Maternal mortality is another challenge, with more than half of maternal deaths in the world occurring in Sub-Saharan Africa . However, there has generally been progress here as well, as a number of countries in the region have halved their levels of maternal mortality since 1990 . Additionally, the African Union in July 2003 ratified the Maputo Protocol, which pledges to prohibit female genital mutilation (FGM). </P> <P> National health systems vary between countries . In Ghana, most health care is provided by the government and largely administered by the Ministry of Health and Ghana Health Services . The healthcare system has five levels of providers: health posts which are first level primary care for rural areas, health centers and clinics, district hospitals, regional hospitals and tertiary hospitals . These programs are funded by the government of Ghana, financial credits, Internally Generated Fund (IGF), and Donors - pooled Health Fund . </P> <P> African countries below the Sahara are largely Christian, while those above the Sahara, in North Africa, are predominantly Islamic . There are also Muslim majorities in parts of the Horn of Africa (Djibouti and Somalia) and in the Sahel and Sudan regions (the Gambia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Senegal), as well as significant Muslim communities in Ethiopia and Eritrea, and on the Swahili Coast (Tanzania and Kenya). Mauritius is the only country in Africa to have a Hindu majority . </P> <P> Traditional African religions can be broken down into linguistic cultural groups, with common themes . Among Niger--Congo - speakers is a belief in a creator God; ancestor spirits; territorial spirits; evil caused by human ill will and neglecting ancestor spirits; priest of territorial spirits . New world religions such as Santería, Vodun, and Candomblé, would be derived from this world view . Among Nilo - Saharan speakers is the belief in Divinity; evil is caused by divine judgement and retribution; prophets as middlemen between Divinity and man . Among Afro - Asiatic - speakers is henotheism, the belief in one's own gods but accepting the existence of other gods; evil here is caused by malevolent spirits . The Semitic Abrahamic religion of Judaism is comparable to the latter world view . San religion is non-theistic but a belief in a Spirit or Power of existence which can be tapped in a trance - dance; trance - healers . </P>

What religion is most common in africa south of the sahara desert