ICMDA's Southern Africa region covers the area from Angola, Malawi and Zambia down to South Africa. There are ten countries here with eight of them having an affiliated group with ICMDA. South Africa's CMF was a founding member of ICMDA in 1966.

There are 185 million people living in Southern Africa with a third of them resident in South Africa itself. The area has a rich Christian heritage with nearly one in five being evangelical.

There are racial tensions and political instability in some places, and the effects of HIV/AIDS continues to be have a crippling effect.

There are just 23 medical schools in the region, with more than half of them in Zambia and South Africa. There are on average 20 health care professionals for every 10,000 people.