The African Middle East Association of Gastroenterology (AMAGE) represents a wide geographical area in the World Gastroenterology Organisation (WGO) which include Africa and the Middle East.
Africa is the world’s second largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth’s land area and 6% of its total surface area. With 1.4 billion people as of 2021, it accounts for about 18% of the world’s human population. Africa’s population is the youngest amongst all the continents; the median age in 2012 was 19.7, when the worldwide median age was 30.4. Despite a wide range of natural resources Africa is the least wealthy continent per. Scholars have attributed this to different factors including geography, climate, lack of democracy, corruption, and other factors. Many African countries are classified as low/middle income countries with limited health care budgets. This is reflected on the prevalence rates of communicable and non-communicable diseases with a high impact on gastrointestinal diseases.