As health leaders across government, public health, research, innovation and development sectors gather in Durban, South Africa, for the fourth edition of the international conference on public health in Africa, the imperative of youth involvement and their role in the success of the new public health order for Africa has been a key feature of the conference.
In this virtual interview with Iniobong Iwok, conducted ahead of the sessions at CPHIA 2025, Chrys Promesse Kaniki, a medical doctor, Youth Programmes Lead and Senior Technical Officer for Strategic Programmes at Africa CDC, discusses the youth agenda for the conference, the future of youth engagement and leadership on the continent, and the implementation roadmap for Africa’s CDC youth engagement strategy. Excerpts:
Africa CDC has been at the forefront of promoting youth inclusion in public health. Can you talk about the agency’s youth-focused initiatives and its new youth engagement strategy?
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), through its dedicated youth arm, Africa CDC Youth, has continued to demonstrate a strong commitment to youth inclusion in public health.
We regularly convene sessions that spotlight the rise of youth leadership in health innovation, policy engagement, and global health participation. At CPHIA 2025, we will host a diverse group of young professionals working across different areas of public health.
I must say that one of our most symbolic milestones in recent times is the development of the Youth Engagement and Participation in Global Health Strategy (YES!Health 2025–2028), a landmark policy framework designed to position young people not merely as beneficiaries of health policies but as active partners in shaping and advancing public health across Africa. The official unveiling of this framework will take place during CPHIA 2025.
The theme for CPHIA 2025 is “Moving Towards Self-reliance to Achieve Universal Health Coverage and Health Security in Africa.” What does this mean, particularly for African youth?
The conference theme re-emphasises the longstanding fact that African nations and people need to take control of their health. For young people, this is primarily about access to quality and affordable health care, provided under a self-reliant universal health coverage on the continent, which is critical for youth in terms of education, livelihood and productivity.
Youth participation in CPHIA 2025 underscores the Africa CDC’s commitment to youth inclusion in health systems and decision-making processes. Africa CDC is ensuring that the youth demographic, which makes up 65-70 percent of the African population, is actively involved in all its programmes and initiatives. From problem identification to solution creation and implementation, young people must be involved.
The youth participation also means advancing Africa CDC’s investment in skills, leadership and entrepreneurship building for young people to be able to bridge the gaps in public health on the continent. This is central to the theme and objective of the conference, which underscores the need to shift from the donor-dependent model of health financing to becoming independent and self-reliant.
For this, we need to look at how, as a continent, we are financing our health and investing in it. Young innovators and health-tech founders have a critical role to play here. CPHIA 2025 is, therefore, very important not only for the youth but also for the continent and the world at large.
What is the youth agenda at CPHIA 2025, and what programmes are there to achieve the agenda?
Unlike the previous editions of CPHIA, where we had youth pre-conferences, this edition is quite unique. In addition to one of the conference tracks focusing on women and youth, as a matter of priority, we have special sessions coming up to amplify how youth-focused initiatives empower young people to improve health systems and drive change from community to global levels.
Examples of such, to mention just a few, include the Africa CDC Bingwa Initiative, which was successfully deployed by Africa CDC to drive vaccination uptake on the continent during the COVID-19 pandemic and has now morphed into Bingwa Plus, an incubator and accelerator programme offering funding, mentorship and resources to young health innovators across Africa.
Another initiative is the Youth Advisory Team for Health (YAT4H), a team of young health professionals representing the youth within the Africa CDC to foster youth inclusion in public health governance and co-creation of health solutions with youth perspectives in consideration.
The Youth in Digital Health Network (YiDHN) is another strategic initiative focused on fostering youth‐driven innovations and participation in digital health.
Speaking of agenda, we have four main events at the conference – the exhibition booth where we will showcase Africa CDC youth initiatives, two side events where we amplify how youth are shaping the future of health care in Africa and, on top of these, a special session for the official launch of the Africa CDC Strategy for Youth Engagement and Participation in Global Health (YES!Health 2025 – 2028).
This is an important milestone for Africa CDC and indeed African youth. The process commenced at the last Youth Pre-Conference in Lusaka, Zambia, where 250 youth delegates were immersed in co-designing a youth engagement strategy that is developed by young people themselves.
After a series of processes, I mean consultation sessions, a survey and a professional workshop, I am particularly excited today that Africa CDC, together with partners like the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) Office to the African Union (GIZ-AU), has created not a paper document but a roadmap and an actionable blueprint that we have started implementing already.
Indeed, Africa CDC has moved from commitments to institutionalised youth inclusion and leadership through various initiatives under the Africa CDC Youth Programmes.
Apart from the youth programmes and initiatives under your leadership, what is the level of youth participation in CPHIA 2025 in terms of research (abstract submissions), speaking engagements, project launch, etc.?
Beyond the young people hosted under the Africa CDC Youth Programmes, it is encouraging to see that many youths have also been selected to present abstracts at the conference.
This underscores the growing importance and recognition of youth involvement in diverse areas of health research. Young people are already taking the lead in this space, and I’m delighted to have met and interacted with a couple of them.
Besides, there are other young professionals here present who are working not only with the Africa CDC but also with other prominent organisations.
I have seen many young people who are part of state delegations. Clearly, youth involvement in health systems is gaining significant momentum, not just among nations but also within organisations that play critical roles in Africa’s health landscape, as they have young people in key positions.
This growing visibility of young leaders serves as further encouragement for us at Africa CDC to continue the good work we’re doing.
What is the next direction for youth engagement and participation in global health by the Africa CDC?
The next step is to strengthen further the pillars and parameters of the institutionalised youth engagement by the Africa CDC. Not only through the various initiatives that we have started implementing but also the flagship projects in the Youth Engagement Strategy.
Yesterday, for instance, we had a conversation with the Director-General of the Africa CDC, Dr. Jean Kaseya, on creating a fellowship program that will provide a new environment for young people to support the Africa CDC and, most importantly, gain significant career benefits.
Hence, a fellowship programme is one of the initiatives under consideration for next year’s programmes. We are also having the second edition of Bingwa Plus next year. The Youth Advisory Team for Health (YAT4H), with its first cohort entering its second year, will also have a second cohort by next year.
Last week at the Africa Health Tech Summit in Kigali, Rwanda, we made new commitments with young people in the Youth in Digital Health Network (YiDHN), along with our partners and member states, to continue supporting and strengthening the flagship initiative that is providing support for young innovators applying technology to create public health solutions at scale.
Two other initiatives that the Africa CDC would like to unveil are support for youth-led entrepreneurship in public health.
We are aware of the many young innovators striving to scale up their ideas, and we’re eager to support them. One of our plans is to collaborate with universities to establish an exchange programme between the Africa CDC and academic institutions, aimed at advancing training and capacity building for young talent.
At Africa CDC, the Youth Programme’s core mandate is to ensure that young people are given opportunities to learn, grow, and emerge as leaders capable of making a meaningful impact. We remain steadfast in this commitment because the Africa we want can only be realised through the energy, innovation, and leadership of its youth.
