At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Africa was predicted to have a high burden of COVID-19 cases and deaths. However, with the acute phase of the pandemic now over and the worst predictions not materialising in Africa, the better-than-expected outcomes have been attributed to a combination of factors, including favourable climate, the continent's experience with fighting epidemics, and its predominantly young population. According to the 2022 UN World Population Prospects, approximately 60% of Africa's population is younger than 25 years and this number is expected to increase from 721 million in 2015 to 1·4 billion by 2063. Because of this reality, the Africa Center for Disease Control (Africa CDC) are focusing their health interventions on young adults.
At the 2nd International Conference on Public Health in Africa (Dec 13–15, 2022; Kigali, Rwanda), Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, acting director of Africa CDC (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia), announced plans to establish a youth advisory team, whose members will advise the centre's Director “on the most effective ways to harness the energy and passion of our youth to engage them fully in the direction and control of diseases in Africa”. Five African young adults (aged 18–35 years) have now been announced as the inaugural Youth Advisory Team for Health (YAT4H), representing the five African Union regions.
Ouma told The Lancet Microbe that the demographics of the continent means it impossible for Africa CDC to achieve its goals without prioritising young people. “Everything and anything you do, if it does not specifically target the youth, then it cannot be successful,” he said. Ouma also noted that Africa CDC's experience in responding to outbreaks often leads to encounters with high numbers of young people from both rural and urban areas, emphasising the importance of engaging young people in a systematic way. The vision Ouma has is that the large young population in Africa could curb the spread of infectious diseases at the community level. “If you target the youth, then your messaging will reach the majority of the population, and eventually the whole community will be well informed,” he said. The YAT4H will be key to this vision and will act as advisors to Africa CDC on how to effectively engage with young people.
Such changes are already underway. Chrys Kaniki (Africa CDC), revealed that steps are being taken to improve vaccine uptake in Africa by making young people the faces of vaccination campaigns. For example, the African Union launched the COVID-19 Vaccination Bingwa Initiative, a 1-year campaign led by young people with the aim of scaling up COVID-19 vaccinations in communities. Kaniki noted that this approach could reduce vaccine hesitancy and encourage young people, their peers, family members and other members of the community to get vaccinated.
The move by Africa CDC is similar to what several African researchers and studies have indicated over the past decade. In a 2020 systematic review, Oluwaseyi Dolapo Somefun (University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa) and colleagues recommended involving young people early in the design and planning phase of health interventions, especially if they are the targeted end users. They also recommended involving the group at various stages of the intervention life cycle. Mohammed Abdulaziz (Africa CDC) agrees and described young Africans as the most important demographic when it comes to disease prevention and control. Abdulaziz argues that it is crucial to take intentional steps to reach young people beyond conventional methods, as they heavily rely on social media for their information. Africa CDC has launched a Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram campaign using the #ShootYourShot and #GetVaccinated hashtags and African social media influencers to increase attention and engagement for vaccination drives. Abdulaziz also noted that the continent cannot achieve the goal of vaccinating 70% of its population against COVID-19 without buy-in from young people. Abdulaziz argued that if young people view an infectious disease as only affecting older people then they are more likely to take risks and expose themselves to the causative pathogen, be asymptomatically infected and then transmit the pathogen to older or immunocompromised members of their household who could develop severe clinical symptoms. He also admitted there is still more Africa CDC can do to make its programmes more targeted to the younger generation. The approach, he noted, will become clearer when an official policy is launched. “Africa CDC is articulating a youth policy that will ensure that youth are part and parcel of what we do in the implementation of the New Public Health Order that we want to really use to ensure we are able to deliver on our mandate as an institution,” he told The Lancet Microbe. The official launch date of the policy has not been released but the New Public Health Order roadmap has defined five pillars that include strenthening African manufacturing of vaccines and ensuring that “Africa has the workforce it needs to address health threats,“ it is clear that engaging young people is key to achieving these goals.
© 2023 Paul Adepoju