An outbreak is a sudden increase in occurrences of a disease in a particular time and place. It may affect a small and localized group or impact upon thousands of people across an entire continent. Outbreaks include epidemics, a term normally only used for infectious diseases, as well as diseases with an environmental origin, such as a water or foodborne disease. They may affect a region in a country or a group of countries. Pandemics are near-global disease outbreaks.

This section lists important information on related diseases which occur within the African continent and potentially could impact both foreign and domestic travellers.