From Commitment to Action: Taking forward the AU Continental Strategy on Education for Health and Well-being and other Political Commitments

At the 11th African Conference on Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights and Family Well-being in Rabat (29 February – 2 March 2024), a panel convened to tackle a critical next step – how to convert Africa's unprecedented political commitments around adolescent health education into tangible improvements in young people's lives.

Last year witnessed the launch of the African Union's Continental Strategy on Education for Health and Well-being, centered on promoting healthy lifestyles, disease prevention, nurturing safe learning environments, and skills-based reproductive health education. In parallel, ministers across 25 countries endorsed the West and Central Africa Commitment and the East and Southern Africa Commitment - both mobilizing nations to strengthen health and well-being curricula.

As Christopher Castle of UNESCO opened the session, the question lingered – with this formidable policy architecture now constructed, what will it take to move from commitment to action? Minister Gilbert Mokoki shared the path the Congo is charting, anchored in strong consistent leadership synchronized across implementing agencies. For Daniel Adugna of the African Union, realizing the "demographic dividend" requires precisely these investments in youth reproductive health and rights. Zambia's Ackim Kanyika highlighted the need to thoughtfully integrate new strategies within existing interventions and capacity building efforts.

As the audience weighed in, a chorus of practical solutions emerged: Financing must be prioritized and ringfenced. Cross-sector coordination is vital, convening stakeholders from health, education, gender, and youth development spheres. Community engagement is key, understanding local contexts and partnering with grassroots advocates. Most critically, the panelists affirmed, the leadership and perspectives of young people themselves must drive implementation. "Nothing for us, without us," stressed Clétus Adohinzin of the West African Health Organization.

The unprecedented commitments sparked in 2023 cracked open a window of opportunity for transformative change in African adolescent and youth health education. But as this session made clear, converting that opening into substantive progress will require sustained political will, innovative multi-stakeholder collaboration, and the empowered inclusion of those whose well-being rests in the balance – the next generation.