Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — As part of the ongoing consultative and inclusive development process for its Youth Engagement Strategy (YES!), the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) convened an expert review workshop focused on garnering feedback and refining the draft strategy to ensure its alignment with young people's needs and Africa CDC priorities for multisectoral engagement and inclusive policy decision-making in Africa's public health.
The YES! aims to guide Africa CDC's long-term engagement with young people and mainstream youths' participation in its decision-making processes for continental health security. The strategy will serve as a roadmap for amplifying youth voices, fostering youth-led innovation for effective digital health delivery services, and nurturing collaboration between young leaders and the Africa CDC leadership. It will also serve as a blueprint for increasing meaningful engagement of young Africans in Africa's Public Health sector.
In his remarks, Africa CDC Director General, H. E. Dr Jean Kaseya, expressed his delight at the progress made to finalise the strategy and reiterated his commitment to creating spaces for meaningful youth engagement in Africa CDC structures and platforms. He expressed his desire to have a formal youth fellowship programme at Africa CDC that will pave the way for many more young people to contribute their expertise, knowledge, and energies to the realisation of the New Public Health Order. The DG concluded his remarks with a commitment to submit the final Strategy document for the approval and endorsement of the Africa CDC Governing Board.
The workshop builds on a consultation of young health professionals at the Africa CDC Youth Pre-Conference 2023 held on the margins of CPHIA2023 in Lusaka, Zambia, and a comprehensive desk review of existing youth engagement initiatives on health in Africa. The gathering represented the second phase of the strategy development process, focusing on expert review of the draft document and incorporating views and perspectives of Youth from across the continent.
