Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Feb 13:13:11.
doi: 10.1186/1472-698X-13-11.

The health and wellbeing of young people in sub-Saharan Africa: an under-researched area?

Caroline W Kabiru  1 , Chimaraoke O Izugbara, Donatien Beguy
Affiliations

The health and wellbeing of young people in sub-Saharan Africa: an under-researched area?

Caroline W Kabiru et al. BMC Int Health Hum Rights. .

Abstract

A third of sub-Saharan Africa's (SSA) population comprises persons aged 10-24 years. These youth are growing up in a context marked by pervasive poverty, limited educational opportunities, high HIV/AIDS prevalence, widespread conflict, and weak social controls. Published research on the broad issues that affect youth health and wellbeing in SSA is limited and centers heavily on sexual and reproductive health. In this commentary, we provide a broad overview of sub-Saharan African youth, highlight research gaps with respect to youth health and wellbeing, and describe potential avenues to develop the region's research capacity on youth health and wellbeing.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Population Reference Bureau (PRB) World’s Youth 2006 Data Sheet. Washington DC: PRB; 2006.
    1. Garcia M, Fares J. In: Youth in Africa’s Labor Market. Garcia M, Fares J, editor. Washington, DC: The World Bank; 2008. Why is it important for Africa to invest in its youth; pp. 3–14.
    1. Ashford LS. Africa's youthful population: Risk or opportunity. Washington, DC: Population Reference Bureau; 2007.
    1. Ezeh AC, Mberu BU, Emina JO. Stall in fertility decline in Eastern African countries: regional analysis of patterns, determinants and implications. Phil Trans R Soc B. 2009;364:2991–3007. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2009.0166. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Blum RW. Youth in sub-Saharan Africa. J Adolesc Health. 2007;41:230–238. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2007.04.005. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources