The 2025 University of Ibadan Research Foundation’s (UI-Research Foundation) annual Stakeholders Forum on Adolescents’ and Youths’ Health Policy in Africa provided another opportunity to engage with stakeholders and partners in proffering contemporary feasible solutions to the challenges that adolescents and youths deal with and to prepare them to make a difference that counts now and later in the future. It had as its theme, “Strengthening Resilience in Adolescents’ and Youths’ Development in Africa: Co-Creating Strategies and Policy Options on Mental Health, SRH, and Nutrition”.
Prof. Ayo M.J Oduola, in his address at the event, called for concerted efforts to address the challenges that undermine the development of resilience in adolescents and youths. Decrying the inability of this cohort to access the benefits of the advancements in global health especially on account of preventable causes, he described the 2025 stakeholders’ forum as a platform to provide tangible opportunities for cross-sectoral dialogues, cocreation, and collective reflection on strategies that could strengthen resilience and enhance developmental outcomes for adolescents and youths in Africa
Some guests at the UI-Research Foundation event: (From L): Prof. Ayo MJ Oduola, Director, UI-Research Foundation; Prof. Adenike Akinjobi, the Chair, UI Ceremonials Committee; Prof. Adenike Emeke (rep. Board Chairman, UI-Research Foundation, Rt. Hon. Uduimo Itsueli); Mr Ganiyu Oke Saliu, Registrar, University of Ibadan; Prof. Oluyemisi Bamgbose, erstwhile Deputy ViceChancellor (Research, Innovation, and Strategic Partnerships); Prof. Juwon Tunde Arotiba (Rep., Prof. Kayode Adebowale, University of Ibadan Vice-Chancellor); Prof. Babatunde Salako, former DG, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR); Prof. Augustine Abiodun Adeoye (rep. Dr Iziaq Adekunle Salako, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare)
Prof. Angela Chukwu
UI-Research Foundation
Dr Funke Ayeni
(Rep. Prof. Akin Abayomi, Lagos State Commissioner of Health)
Dr Oluwaserimi Ajetunmobi
Honourable Commissioner of Health , Oyo State
Mr Adesoji Eyinade
Board of Trustees Chairman, African Governance Institute for Development (AGID)
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Prof. Kayode Adebowale, reaffirmed the institution’s commitment to leveraging innovative research and collaborative partnerships to bolster adolescent and youth health policies in Nigeria and Africa. The Vice Chancellor added that the stakeholders’ forum had continued to stand out as a platform to reflect on the vital contributions that academic institutions make to the roles that science, technology, and community engagement play in addressing the health challenges faced by the growing population of adolescents and youths, who constitute approximately 30% of Nigeria’s teeming population.
The Lagos State Commissioner of Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, urged adolescents and youths to speak up whenever they needed help reinstating that they were the intelligentsia of the nation. He also advocated for the domestication and implementation of policies, strategies, and interventions that would enable young people to access the information and care that would improve their lives.
The Lagos State Commissioner of Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, urged adolescents and youths to speak up whenever they needed help reinstating that they were the intelligentsia of the nation. He also advocated for the domestication and implementation of policies, strategies, and interventions that would enable young people to access the information and care that would improve their lives.
The Oyo State Commissioner of Health, Dr Oluwaserimi Ajetunmobi also emphasized the relevance of resilience in adolescents and young adults to their improved health outcomes and a successful lifestyle. She called for strengthened efforts and collaborations between government, researchers, and other stakeholders for the actualization of the potentials in these cohorts
Round-table Discussion: (From right) Special Thematic Working Group Leads – Dr Charlotte Ofori representing Dr Samuel Adjorlolo (STWG-Mental Health), Dr Nolwazi Dlamini (STWG-Nutrition and Physical Activity), – center: Dr Abel Obosi (UI-Research Foundation) – Dr Justine Bukenya (STWG-Sexual and Reproductive Health), and Miss Mariam Yusuff, Nigerian representative on the Adolescents and Youths Advisory Board (AYAB)
The leads of the STWG-Sexual and Reproductive Health, STWG-Nutrition, and Physical Activity, and STWG-Mental Health respectively called for collaboration among government and other key players for the creation of awareness and improved access to engaging communication contents that enhance the SRH literacy of adolescents and youths, the provision of balanced meals for adolescents and youths in order to improve their overall wellbeing and attendance in schools, and the establishment of safe spaces where adolescents and youths could access help without the fear of stigmatization.
The Nigerian representative on the Adolescents and Youths Advisory Board (AYAB), Miss Mariam Yusuff, also urged stakeholders to provide accessible youth-friendly services for adolescents and youths and an enabling environment for them to express themselves.
A cross-section of adolescents, youths and other guests at the event.
Special Thematic Working Group (STWG) Workshop
The workshop presented a platform to review the activities of the Special Thematic Working Groups (STWGs) and proffer approaches toward advancing the cause of the framework and efforts of the groups within the African Think Tank for Adolescents’ and Youths’ Health under the ARISE-NUTRINT and DASH initiatives. The meeting also sought to ensure deliverables that transform research evidence into impact-driven policy options for enhancing adolescents’ health in Africa.
Dr Bukenya stated that the central focus of research for the Special Thematic Working Group on Promoting Sexual and Reproductive Health among Adolescents and Youths in Africa (STWG-SRH) in the coming year would be the “Policy Opportunities and Threats in Addressing Teenage Pregnancy in Africa”. She stressed that this was because of the prevalent challenge of teenage pregnancy among adolescents and youths in Africa.
Dr Charlotte Ofori, who represented the STWG-MH lead, Prof. Samuel Adjorlolo, said that about 15% of the world’s adult and 45% of Africa’s adolescents and young people had a diagnosis of at least one mental health challenge. She noted that the STWG was focused on enhancing the mental health literacy (MHL) of adolescents and young adults with the aim of increasing the availability and access to knowledge, and improving attitudes to seeking mental healthcare services.
Dr Nolwazi stated that the research findings of the STWG-Nutrition and Physical Activity were from the collaborating countries: Ethiopia, Uganda, Ghana, and South Africa. She further noted that the participating countries were deploying mutual interventions that were school-based and community-based, such as: -Improved nutrition literacy. -The promotion of adequate and frequent meals and physical activity. -Establishment of school feeding and school garden programmes.
