Youth agency crucial for Africa's health strategy implementation
via The Namibian6 min read
The Africa CDC's Yes! Health Strategy 2025-2028, launched last year, aims to make young Africans central to the continent's health security. This strategy, the first of its kind, focuses on youth engagement in governance, collaboration spaces, youth-led partnerships, workforce development, and sustainable financing for youth-led health programs. Dr. Tuwilika Nafuka, a Namibian medical doctor, and Grace Omoto, a Kenyan medical student, highlighted the importance of this strategy at the 9th RHNK Pan-African Adolescent and Youth SRHR Scientific Conference in Mombasa. Chrys Kaniki, Africa CDC's senior technical officer for strategic youth programmes, emphasized that youth engagement is a strategic investment, not merely a gesture. Panellists at the conference, including Dr. Blen Getahun and Saddam Biwa, stressed the need for institutions to involve young people in designing health services and co-authoring national health budgets. Dr. Nafuka, through the Africa CDC Bingwa Plus fellowship, piloted BloomBox, a gamified board game for sexual and reproductive health and rights, mental health, and legal literacy education in Windhoek schools, demonstrating a Namibian solution to local health challenges. The article questions whether Namibian institutions and domestic funders will match the investment made by Africa CDC in Namibian youth, especially in addressing rising sexual and gender-based violence, new HIV infections among adolescents, and teenage pregnancies.
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This summary was AI-generated from a story originally published by The Namibian.
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