| Abstract | Health has been brought into foreign policy processes for several centuries, through diverse approaches that differ across countries and regions, albeit with both risks and benefits for public health. This paper explores, through a review and analysis of published literature in English, the perspectives that have informed African health diplomacy; particularly in Anglophone Sub-Saharan Africa. A thematic analysis of literature on health diplomacy in Africa pointed to common themes in African diplomacy on health, including: a liberation ethic; African unity and interdependence; and developmental foreign policy. Examples are provided that demonstrate how these perspectives have specifically informed negotiations on global health. The literature also highlights reasons for caution in raising health as an issue of global diplomacy, including: loss of sovereignty; the disguised role of private actors; a focus on development aid; and weak attention to underlying determinants of health. Nevertheless, the authors argue that a rising demand for African resources and the emergence of south-south alliances raise new possibilities for advancing African perspectives in global health diplomacy, particularly if supported by strengthened regional co-operation, greater policy coherence between health and other sectors within African countries, and by effective involvement of the public sector and civil society. |