Young Africans have outlined nine actionable strategies to reshape the continent’s health systems, emphasizing leadership, innovation, and employment reforms to address systemic challenges. The recommendations emerged from Ubuntu Rising 2026, a forum convened by the Africa Health Collaborative and hosted by the University of Cape Town (UCT) ahead of the 18th World Congress on Public Health. Over 80 young health professionals, researchers, entrepreneurs, and educators participated, aiming to move beyond consultation and directly influence health policy and programming.
The discussions highlighted a stark paradox: while 90% of employed young Africans work in the informal economy, only 10% hold formal jobs, with 34% living below the $2.15-a-day poverty line. Health workforce data further revealed a shortage of 5.5 million workers, alongside nearly one million trained professionals without meaningful employment. Prof. Brandon Collier-Reed, UCT’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Teaching and Learning, stressed that progress must be measured by systemic impact, not just employment rates: “The question is not whether young Africans are working, but whether the systems we’ve built are working for them.”
Under the leadership pillar, participants called for stronger ties between young professionals and health policy. They proposed creating learning networks to bridge technical expertise with policy understanding, measuring leadership by influence rather than participation numbers, and establishing institutional spaces for youth-led decision-making. Dr. Nathina Pakade, a Public Health Medicine Registrar at UCT and the Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness, emphasized the need for systems that enable young people to “enter, learn, contribute, progress, and lead,” moving beyond symbolic participation to meaningful influence.
Innovation-focused recommendations included embedding entrepreneurship and problem-solving into education, developing structured frameworks to turn ideas into health solutions, and connecting young innovators to cross-disciplinary expertise and existing infrastructure. The group also urged harmonizing curricula across Africa to make skills transferable across borders, ensuring training aligns with community needs and entrepreneurial opportunities.
Employment strategies centered on creating dignified health pathways, such as paid internships and policies that integrate youth into health decision-making. Participants stressed the importance of linking education to real-world challenges, ensuring curricula reflect both community needs and entrepreneurial skills. These measures aim to shift from merely offering opportunities to building sustainable career trajectories.
The nine recommendations will inform the Africa Health Collaborative’s Youth Agenda, ensuring young voices shape future programming and partnerships. Prof. Tracey Naledi, UCT’s Deputy Dean for Social Accountability and Health Systems, underscored the collaborative’s commitment to co-creation: “This is more than participation or consultation. It’s co-creation of the future we all want to see.”
The event underscored a growing call for systemic reforms to unlock young Africans’ potential, aligning education, employment, and policy to build resilient health systems. With 34% of youth in poverty and a critical health workforce shortage, the recommendations seek to bridge gaps between opportunity and impact, ensuring young people are not just participants but architects of Africa’s health future.
The Africa Health Collaborative, a coalition of health stakeholders, has positioned youth engagement as central to its mission. By integrating the Ubuntu Rising 2026 insights, the group aims to foster partnerships that prioritize equitable access, innovation, and institutional accountability. As Prof. Collier-Reed noted, “The systems we build must work for young people, not just for the sake of employment, but for the sake of a healthier, more just Africa.”
The recommendations reflect a broader movement to reframe youth participation as a catalyst for structural change. By prioritizing leadership development, innovation ecosystems, and dignified employment, the initiative seeks to address both immediate challenges and long-term sustainability in Africa’s health landscape. With the continent’s youth population set to double by 2050, the call for systemic inclusion grows increasingly urgent.
The Ubuntu Rising 2026 forum has set a precedent for youth-led policy design, demonstrating how structured engagement can translate potential into actionable solutions. As the Africa Health Collaborative moves forward, the focus remains on ensuring that young Africans are not only heard but empowered to shape the health systems that will define their future.
The event’s legacy lies in its emphasis on co-creation, challenging institutions to move beyond tokenism and embrace youth as equal partners in shaping Africa’s health trajectory. With the nine recommendations now part of the Collaborative’s framework, the path forward hinges on translating these insights into measurable, inclusive progress for the continent’s most vulnerable populations.