Africa is experiencing a demographic dividend that presents an opportunity to harness the potential of young people across the continent.

Presently, it is 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 as of 2022. By 2030, up to 42% of the world’s youth are projected to be African.

As this population of young Africans grows, more and more of them are redefining their engagement with various systems of governance, including public health.

They are advocating for an environment that creates room to redefine the role of the youth in Africa’s public health governance architecture.

An environment that will complement and elevate the innovative ideas that African youth, in all their diversities, are already implementing to address pressing public health issues in their immediate environments and communities.

The advocacy for increased meaningful youth engagement does not exist in a vacuum. It exists in a context where many young people are already taking up leadership roles in addressing the continent’s public health challenges.

In Nigeria, for example, Teniola Adedeji and Funmilola Aderemi are, through Pharmarun, addressing challenges related to the accessibility of medicine by delivering them to the users’ doorsteps.

Pharmarun, which won the Africa Young Innovators for Health Award, is an online platform designed to deliver medication nationwide in less than 120 minutes.

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