Introduction to the special section: Histories of Global Health in Africa

Global health is a multidisciplinary field, yet rarely productively incorporates historical knowledge. Local historical processes, interactions with past biomedical campaigns, and dynamic ecological narratives shape how disease outbreaks, health crises, and international interventions are received and remembered. The residues and afterlives of past interactions influence contemporary understandings. We argue for a broadening of the types of knowledge that are integrated into global health research, interventions, and policymaking by paying attention to project afterlives and better integrating forms of vernacular knowledge. Recognizing, understanding, respecting, and incorporating this knowledge is critical to the efficacy of global health-related interventions and the resulting outcomes.