‘Youth Deliver the Future’ when it comes to making maternal and child health a reality

To combat the growing number of women and child deaths around the world, a coalition of active youths who are willing to take on the wide girth of challenges in today’s development and public health issues is becoming a necessary weapon.

But many researchers and health experts have found that in order to have a society of determined young people with a vision of a better future, we first need to take proper steps to deliver the necessary health and developmental needs of young people around the world, especially those in low-resource settings.

In the upcoming “Youth Deliver the Future” conference convened by Bill and Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA, the health and development of young people around the world will be discussed, debated, and deliberated upon by researchers and practitioners, as well as youth delegates themselves. The conference, themed “Investing in Young People’s Health and Development: Research that Improves Policies and Programs,” aims to provide an international forum for exchanging research and evidence on how to meet the health and developmental needs of young people in low-resource settings.

As such, the conference offers an opportunity for researchers and consumers of research findings and implementers of youth programming as well as youths themselves, to learn from research, share lessons and valuable experiences, and provide recommendations for improving adolescent health around the world. Population, development, sexual and reproductive health, poverty reduction and gender equity as they affect young people will be the top discussions during a multitude of forums for international research and development.

Expected outcomes from the international ‘Youth Deliver the Future’ conference include increased resources and commitment to youth-directed investments in health and development at international, national, and local levels.

The conference takes place on April 27-30 in Abuja, Nigeria, at the Nicon Luxury Hotel, and is partnered by the Institute of Public Health, Obafemi Awolowo University; Centre for Population and Reproductive Health, University of Ibadan; Nigeria Federal Ministry of Health, Youth, and Education; and over 40 international and national organizations.


By Amanda Hale