At its heart, this strategy will involve young people in decision-making processes and initiatives that affect their health and well-being. It will create opportunities for young people to participate in health-related policy development, research, knowledge development, programme implementation, and advocacy and awareness-raising campaigns.

The strategy will create opportunities for youth leadership at all levels in the health sector. It will empower young people to take an active role in promoting health and well-being in their communities, at national, regional, continental, and global levels.

Recognising that health is influenced by various social, economic, and environmental factors, the strategy aims to engage a diverse group of stakeholders, including from education, environment, finance, civil society, agriculture, and the private sector. The strategy will also seek integration across programmes and initiatives contributing to peace, security, stability, economic development, and sustainable development.

Centring innovation, this strategy will support the development of agile solutions that are tailored to local contexts and health challenges. It will encourage the development and use of new and innovative approaches to health education, health workforce development, advocacy, and community mobilisation. It will broaden its reach by leveraging the latest in digital technology alongside innovative non-digital approaches to ensure resources and opportunities accessible to a diverse and widespread youth population across Africa.

The strategy will utilise collaboration in addressing health issues faced by youth and their communities. It will promote collaboration and exchange both amongst youth and intergenerationally. It will also focus on interdisciplinary and multisectoral collaboration with people from diverse backgrounds, including but not limited to people working in creative disciplines, public servants, policymakers, public finance professionals, behavioural change specialists.

The strategy recognises the importance of gender balance in the achievement of its strategic objectives as well as in promoting gender-intentional programmes and plans. It will put marginalised gender groups at the centre of programming and utilise an equality approach from planning to implementation. As part of the strategy’s M&E framework, gender-disaggregated data on the reach of the programmes and initiatives encompassed by this strategy will be collected. The insights from this data will be applied to future programming.

The strategy is for Africans within all five geopolitical regions of the continent and the African diaspora at large. Programming under the strategic objectives will ensure equitable regional spread in targeting stakeholders and beneficiaries of its programmes.

The strategy recognises the importance of deliberately ensuring that marginalised youth, rural youth, persons with disabilities, and youth in low-income communities are targeted as beneficiaries and implementers, while ensuring that a principle of leaving no one behind is adhered to in its implementation.