Compared with other regions of sub-Saharan Africa, southern sub-Saharan Africa had a more mixed pattern of risk factor burden in 1990 (appendix). In 2010, alcohol use was the leading risk factor in southern sub-Saharan Africa, followed by high blood pressure and high bodymass index (figure 6). In addition to high exposure to harmful alcohol use, the effects of alcohol were particularly large because it increases the risk of road traffic and other unintentional and intentional injuries, as well as of tuberculosis,47 all of which are large causes of disease and injury burden in this region.
