Youth Leaders call for increased funding for health sector
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Press Release: For Immediate release
Media Contacts: Ms. Juliet Ogbua +234 84 751 002 mailto:dpi@developmentpartnership.org
Youth Leaders call for increased funding for health sector
The Second Nigerian Youth Leadership Summit held in Enugu has ended with a call for increased funding to the health sector. Organised by Development Partnership International, the summit is an annual national youth capacity building meeting and inter-generational dialogue, which brings together young leaders and professionals from various backgrounds to discuss critical issues on youth leadership and sustainable national development.
This years summit focused on youth leadership towards better health and sustainable development, and brought together youth leaders from 17 states and the FCT, young Nigerians in the Diaspora, international health development experts, private sector and representatives of the United Nations system. In his opening speech, the Executive Director of Development Partnership International Mr. Dabesaki Mac-Ikemenjima, reiterated that the year 2006 was the most strategic year for youth to focus on health and development issues, owing to the overwhelming emphasis that has been laid on health during the year 2006 through the Abuja +5, the UNGASS +5 events in New York and the World Health Assembly. He said young people hold the key to national health and sustainable development planning, considering their roles in raising awareness and focusing attention on critical policy issues on health development. Chair of the Opening Ceremony Prof. C. O. Nwaorgu, emphasised the need to empower the youth in order to assist them in taking appropriate decisions on issues that relate to their sexuality.
Keynote speaker at the summit, Chief Dumo Lilu-Briggs, CEO of DLB Concerns, underscored the importance of education in developing youth who can take effective leadership and ensure better health for all. He wondered what level of leadership the nation expects from youth who are poorly educated and in some cases illiterate. His position was corroborated by Dr. James Garofalo Vice President Academics of the ABTI American University, who highlighted the importance of an enabling environment for young people to access education and stay in school until they graduate, as a key to effective learning and intellectual development. Education is the key to sustainable national development. Dr. Viola Onwuliri, Africas representative to the governing Board of the International AIDS Society emphasised the need for youth to abstain from sex the surest measure to protect themselves from HIV infection.
The summit featured key speakers from UNFPA, UNAIDS, Mr. Rosanwo Tunde of the Nigerian Youth in the Diaspora Network and Mr. Martins Ilo, Economic Adviser to the Enugu State government. In declaring the summit open, Enugu state Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Bethel Onyenyiri, praised the organisers for putting the summit together and expressed hope that the summit will yield desired results.
The summit ended with the adoption of the Enugu Youth Declaration on health and development, which called for a public-private sector partnership to improve funding for health infrastructure and medical supplies. The declaration also called for increased funding from the National budget to health, with particular reference to the African Union Declaration on AIDS, TB and ORID of 2001, which recommended 15 percent of national budget and called for the establishment of mechanisms to ensure that young people access the resources to implement their innovative programmes to ensure better health for all. The date and venue for the next summit will be posted on www.developmentpartnership.org in the coming months.
Dabesaki Mac-Ikemenjima
Director,Development Partnership International
4 Eleme/Onne Road off Eleme Junction,
Port Harcourt 500001 NIGERIA
http://www.developmentpartnership.org
mailto:dabesaki@developmentpartnership.org
Phone: +234 84 751 002
Fax: +234 84 751 002
Mobile: +234 805 518 2526
Co-Founder, Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS
http://www.youthaidscoalition.org dabesaki@youthaidscoalition.org