An A1C test allows doctors to examine glucose levels over a two-to three-month period and can be a useful tool in judging the effectiveness of a treatment plan. Diabetics used to depend only on urine tests or daily finger sticks to measure their blood sugars.
The formal economy of this region depends on agricultural exports. For example, Ethiopia is a major coffee exporter (80% of its total exports) and Somalia is a major banana and livestock exporter (roughly half of its total exports). The majority of the economy of the Horn of Africa is informal.
Slaves for the Trans-Atlantic slave trade were initially sourced in Senegambia and the Windward Coast. Around 1650 the trade moved to west-central Africa (the Kingdom of the Kongo and neighboring Angola). The transport of slaves from Africa to the Americas forms the middle passage of the triangular trade.