To discuss challenges and lessons learnt from Africa’s journey towards achieving SDGs and how youths can actively be engaged in achieving SDGs.

Host: World Health Summit Regional Meeting Africa Secretariate

To attend one of the sessions but not all.

When the subject of drug use comes up, it is often in relation to young people. This makes some sense, for while there are significant drug issues among other populations, it is during the younger years that most substance use begins. If a person in today’s world has not begun to use alcohol, tobacco or an illicit substance during this period, it is unlikely he or she ever will.

Host: Department of Psychiatry Makerere University

Globally, there has been significant progress towards UHC, but challenges remain immense. Most parts of the world have seen expansion in the access to health services and coverage of key interventions over the last two decades yet, in many other countries, large coverage gaps remain, in particular for the poor and marginalized segments of the population.

Host: Nilee Africa

Executive Director of Kampala International University Teaching Hospital

Between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250 000 additional deaths per year, from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea and heat stress. The direct damage costs to health (i.e. excluding costs in health-determining sectors such as agriculture and water and sanitation), is estimated to be between USD 2-4 billion/year by 2030. Areas with weak health infrastructure – mostly in developing countries – will be the least able to cope without assistance to prepare and respond.

Host: Makerere University Centre for Climate Change

  All attendees to attend the session

Under our present system, just doing our best or working harder will not be enough. The healthcare industry is on the brink of massive change. For better results, the sector needs to adopt modern technologies. Payers, patients, and policy makers are demanding better, accurate and reliable results from the sector. For improved healthcare service delivery, there is a strong need to adopt new technologies. Innovation is the only way to achieve better results. There is need for better programs that can enhance diagnosis, treatment, surgical procedures, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices among other aspects.

Host: Social Innovations in Health Initiative Uganda

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was made under the premise of leaving no one behind and culminated in the development of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). COVID-19 and the containment strategies introduced to break transmission chains and flatten the curve have had an impact on health, food stability, education and livelihoods. The SGDs recognise poverty as hinderance for sustainable development and prioritize its eradication under SDG 1. Border closures, lockdowns and quarantines threatened the livelihoods of individuals across sectors. The impact though, was hardest on the poorest individuals in society engaged in informal trade who could not afford to stay at home and continued to work despite the risks posed by contracting the virus amid a high prevalence of comorbidities.

On a global scale, health care systems in both high- and low-income countries struggled to provide health care amid mounting pressures imposed by the surge of patients with COVID-19.

Host: World Health Summit Regional Meeting Africa Secretariate