Objective To estimate the burden of road traffic injuries and deaths for all road users and among different road user groups in Africa.Methods We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, Global Health, Google Scholar, websites of African road safety agencies and organizations forregistry- and population-based studies and reports on road traffic injury and death estimates in Africa, published between 1980 and 2015.Available data for all road users and by road user group were extracted and analysed. We conducted a random-effects meta-analysis andestimated pooled rates of road traffic injuries and deaths.Findings We identified 39 studies from 15 African countries. The estimated pooled rate for road traffic injury was 65.2 per 100000 population(95% confidence interval, CI: 60.8–69.5) and the death rate was 16.6 per 100 000 population (95% CI: 15.2–18.0). Road traffic injury ratesincreased from 40.7 per 100 000 population in the 1990s to 92.9 per 100 000 population between 2010 and 2015, while death rates decreasedfrom 19.9 per 100 000 population in the 1990s to 9.3 per 100 000 population between 2010 and 2015. The highest road traffic death ratewas among motorized four-wheeler occupants at 5.9 per 100 000 population (95% CI: 4.4–7.4), closely followed by pedestrians at 3.4 per100 000 population (95% CI: 2.5–4.2).Conclusion The burden of road traffic injury and death is high in Africa. Since registry-based reports underestimate the burden, a systematiccollation of road traffic injury and death data is needed to determine the true burden.
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