Newly published research on healthcare innovation in sub-Saharan Africa offers a useful insight into the experience of countries, companies, and organisations that are using innovative and affordable technologies to deal with neglected health problems.

The studies, compiled by the McLaughlin-Rotman Center for Global Health at the University of Toronto and published as a supplement of BioMed Central’s open access journal BMC International Health and Human Rights, offer a broad range of evidence and concrete examples of African innovation to address local health concerns, drawing on the experiences of governments, researchers, and entrepreneurs in Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda (www.biomedcentral.com/bmcinthealthhumrights/10?issue=S1).

The Toronto centre’s lead scientist, Abdallah Daar, …