Addis Ababa, 31 January 2023. Africa CDC hosted a successful Youth Pre Conference on 10 -11 December 2022, in Kigali, Rwanda under the Theme “Meaningful youth engagement for advancing sustainable health security in Africa”. This was in the margins of the Second International Conference on Public Health in Africa (CPHIA 2022). Following the robust engagement with the youth during the pre-conference and as part of implementing the recommendations, the Africa CDC Acting Director is announcing the appointment of the inaugural Youth Advisory Team for Health (YAT4H), effective 1 February 2023.
The Youth Advisory Team for Health shall serve as representatives of the African youth and will help ensure that Africa CDC’s strategies and initiatives are inclusive and adequately address young people’s health concerns. The YAT4H will support Africa CDC to have a meaningful and inclusive engagement with young people; institutionalize youth engagement within the Africa CDC on public health issues in Africa; create a forum for inter-generational dialogue; and advocate for mainstreaming of issues affecting the youth into decision-making within Africa CDC.
The inaugural YAT4H shall serve for a non-renewable term of 12 months starting today 1 February 2023. The YAT4H will be composed of five (5) African youths, aged between 18 and 35 years old, representing the five (5) African Union regions.
The appointed members of the inaugural Africa CDC YAT4H are:
- Central Region: Franckline Sevidzem Wirsiy – Cameroon (M)
- Eastern Region: Rebecca Cherop – Uganda (F)
- Northern Region: Reem Yehia Kamel Elsayed – Egypt (F)
- Southern Region: Margret Soko – Malawi (F)
- Western Region: Edward Agyemang – Ghana (M)
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About The Africa CDC Youth Pre Conference 2022
The Africa CDC convened a Youth Pre-Conference on 10 – 11 December 2022 in Kigali, Rwanda prior to its 2nd annual International Conference on Public Health in Africa (CPHIA) 2022. The aim is to kick-start a long-term strategic engagement between Africa CDC and young people, to advance the full implementation of the New Public Health Order (NPHO) and thereby, drive health security in Africa and globally. The Youth Pre-Conference 2022 took place in-person with live streaming and participants were invited to participate at the CPHIA 2022 (13-15 December 2022) to engage in the conversation on the theme: Meaningful youth engagement for advancing sustainable health security in Africa.
About the Africa CDC
The Africa CDC’s mission is to strengthen Africa’s public health institution’s capacities, capabilities and partnerships to detect and respond quickly and effectively to disease threats and outbreaks based on science, policy, and data-driven interventions and programmes. Learn more at: http://www.africacdc.org
For more details, contact:
Dr. Chrys Promesse Kaniki
Senior Technical Officer for Strategic Programmes Executive Office, Africa CDC – KanikiC@africa-union.org