Webinar | Amref Health Africa Global Youth and Adolescent Strategy launch
Young people must be at the front and center of global change and innovation. The youth remain agents of catalytic development in their respective communities and beyond! The potential of Africa’s 420 million youth population in shifting its socio-economic landscape in the backdrop of poor health and socio-economic outcomes cannot be ignored.
Despite advancements in policy commitments to youth development, young people in Africa remain disproportionately left behind in health and social development, including facing increased barriers to quality healthcare access. For example, over the past couple of years, HIV has been the leading cause of death among adolescents (10 to 19 years) in Sub-Saharan Africa (UNAIDS, 2018), while youth account for 60% of Africa’s unemployment (World Bank, 2016) - a missed opportunity to capitalize on one of the continent’s greatest assets for growth. Even more crucial is the need to provide an enabling environment for the youth to exercise their right to influence decisions that affect them.
As such, Amref Health Africa is increasing its engagement with and inclusion of young people in their leadership and programme implementation as emphasized in their inaugural Global Youth and Adolescent Strategy (2021-2022). The implementation of this strategy will inform the next phase of Amref Health Africa’s corporate strategy, ensuring that they are youth-inclusive and youth-centric, to address the most pressing needs of this population.