After two years of emergency mode due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Africa is now at a crossroads to promote its long-term preparedness for future pandemics and health security. To this end, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) introduced the New Public Health Order (NPHO) for Africa, for which African Union Heads of State and Government called for a full implementation to drive global health security.

Civil society and young people play a crucial role in African countries in promoting public health and reaching communities. With African youth constituting over 65% of the continent’s population, their meaningful engagement has the potential of positively impacting Africa’s health security. Therefore, their structured and systematic engagement in the conversation on public health in Africa is key.

Acknowledging this, Africa CDC will convene 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 NPHO and thereby, drive health security in Africa and globally.

This Youth Pre-Conference will take place in-person and participants are 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. Africa CDC is therefore announcing a call for applications for young public health professionals who are interested in participating in this conference.

Apply now