Africa has a high disease burden which not only poses a threat to the health of its people but also impedes its progress towards achieving the Goal 1.3 Healthy and well-nourished citizens of the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063. Africa is also the youngest continent in terms of population, with approximately 60% of Africans being under the age of 25 and 40% of the population reportedly being aged 15 years and younger. By 2030, up to 42% of the world’s youth are projected to be African.Acknowledging this, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has been engaging African youth through initiatives such as the AU COVID-19 Vaccination Bingwa Initiative and the Africa CDC’s inaugural Youth Advisory Team for Health (YAT4H). Another key element of Africa CDC’s youth engagement efforts is its Youth Pre-Conference, an annual event that brings together young people from across the African continent to discuss and strategise on issues related to health. From 25 to 26 November 2023, Africa CDC convened the 2nd Youth Pre-Conference in Lusaka, Zambia, on the margins of the 3rd International Conference on Public Health in Africa (CPHIA 2023). The theme of the Pre-Conference was “Youth Leadership for a Safer and Healthier Africa”. It aimed to continue and intensify the conversation on youth engagement at Africa CDC and in public health on the African continent. It also provided a platform to showcase examples of youth leadership in innovating public health solutions on the continent and to network across countries and regions.
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