**2.2 Arthritis pain treatment options in Africa**

There is a clear challenge of limited empirical studies on arthritis in Africa. A report [10] showed that between 1975 and 2014, about fifty studies relating to arthritis were published across Africa. However, none of those studies and none that was found in the course of writing this chapter were focused on African women or arthritis treatment. Instead, most were on prevalence and the remaining, either studied risk factors or are meta-analytic reviews of others. Meanwhile, information on women experience of arthritis pain and its treatment is lacking. Studies from other parts of the world including United States of America, United Kingdom and France point to the use of non-drug treatments in the management of arthritis pain. A meta-analytic study that assessed the efficacy of psychosocial interventions in the management of arthritic pain in the United States, reported that patients who received psychosocial interventions displayed significantly lower post-treatment anxiety, depression and psychological disability [23, 24]. Reported the use of non-pharmacological treatments as depending on disease progression, personality, environment and objectives of the patient [25]. Some identified non-pharmacological treatments include physiotherapy, balneotherapy, spa therapy, psychological interventions, therapeutic patient education, dietetics and acupuncture.
