By Samwel Doe Ouma @samweldoe
AstraZeneca’s Non-communicable Diseases Programme-Young Health Program (YHP) that focuses on reducing the uptake of unhealthy behaviors among youth, has so far directly reached over 45,000 young people and trained 40 peer educators in Kibera.
According to Marc Dunoyer, AstraZeneca’s Chief Financial Officer and YHP Executive Champion, said that the Young Health Programme is a part of AstraZeneca’s Sustainability strategy to drive access to healthcare, and is focused on disease prevention through behavior change in adolescents.
“NCDs such as diabetes, cancer, heart and respiratory conditions are appearing in people at younger and younger ages, interrupting lives, breaking apart families, eroding communities and threatening the development of nations. It is for this reason that we are passionate about empowering young people with the ability to make informed decisions to live healthier lifestyles.” he said.
The YHP in Kenya is focused on reducing the uptake of unhealthy behaviors among youth, such as smoking, harmful use of alcohol, poor diet and lack of exercise, that lead to Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in later life, and is being implemented in Kibera.
The program’s objectives are in line with Kenya’s vision 2030, Kenya’s political social and economic development blueprint, which gives priority to preventive care at community and household levels.
In Kenya, NCDs account for over 50 percent of hospital inpatient admissions and over 40 percent of hospital deaths, according to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Health in 2015. When young people initiate unhealthy behaviors in adolescence they often adopt these behaviors for life, thereby increasing their risk for chronic disease as they age. Forthcoming research conducted by RTI International makes clear that NCD risk factor reduction targeted at youth can have a huge return on investment and goes on to suggest that there would be significant benefits should Kenya invest in cost-effective, policy- level interventions for adolescents to reduce the risk of acquiring NCDs later in life.
“We have built relationships with 41 schools in 8 villages in Kibera and are actively supporting the growth and development of young advocates so that the voice of young people is included at the County and sub-County level. We aim to reach 82,000 young people in Kenya by 2020.” he added.
The Programme is implemented in Kenya by Plan International, a humanitarian organization that works together with children and young people to advance their rights. Plan International works with on-the-ground partner – the Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team (AMURT) – in eight of the 13 villages in Kibera. The programmer is focused on young people between 10-24 years.
Commenting on the YHP focus in Kenya, Danor Ajwang’, Young Health Programme Manager in Plan International Kenya said: “A baseline survey by Plan International Kenya in 2016 found that 46percent of young people in Kibera still smoked cigarettes, with 69.6 percent citing peer pressure as the main driver. 66.3 percent were current drinkers of alcohol, with 1.5 occasions of heavy episodic drinking in the past 30 days.
The survey further revealed that majority 59.9 percent of young people relied on carbohydrates -mainly chips- as their main dietary component. Despite the majority (75.2 percent) of young people being aware of the positive health effects of physical activity, many reported spending an average of nearly 3 hours just sitting on a typical day.
This explains why YHP must focus on reducing NCD risk behaviors among young people in Kibera, Kenya. For the past 2.5 years of implementing YHP in Kenya, one of our key findings is that local partnerships are the best approach to reach the youth with the information they need to change these behaviors. Our community and advocacy successes are directly attributable to working together with the government, private sector, civil society organizations and community structures. To sustainably fight the increasing burden of NCDs quicker and more efficiently, meaningful collaboration is no longer a choice.”
Albert Obbuyi, Executive Director at the Centre for the Study of Adolescence and advocacy partner of the YHP highlighted the challenge of NCDs in Kenya as a result of unhealthy lifestyle choices among young people. He said: “The recent efforts by YHP in Kenya have not only resulted in the establishment of a vibrant national civil society network to address the increasing NCD rates among young people but have also significantly supported the recently launched Nairobi County NCD Costed Implementation Plan. These efforts will continue to reverse and address lifestyle factors among young people especially unhealthy dietary practices and alcohol abuse.”
Launched in 2016, the programmer has also trained 54 community-based health workers and volunteers. It is working with primary and secondary schools to operationalize school health clubs, and has so far trained 129 community leaders on NCD risk behaviors, Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (ASRH) and gender equality.
Marlene Kereru, one of the YHP peer educators said that the programmer has had a great impact not just among the youth but also in the community as a whole in Kibera. “Before YHP, I did not know of any programmer that dealt with the youth especially when it comes to education on effects of excessive alcohol consumption. Through it, we have involved parents too because of the authority they have when it comes to influencing behavior change among the youth. They also get to reach younger children who grow up making healthy lifestyle choices. I am glad when I see people who I have mentored making choices such as buying a banana instead of chips when they need a snack,” added Kereru.
Globally, YHP was developed in partnership with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Plan International and has worked with over 30 partner organisations across five continents. The YHP programmer aims to improve health outcomes for young people and reduce the burden of NCDs on healthcare systems by investing in disease prevention. To date, YHP has reached more than 2.25 million youth in more than 20 countries across the world7.
As part of youth empowerment efforts globally, the company launched in July 2018 the “Step Up!” AstraZeneca Young Health Global Grants Programme that aims to extend the reach and impact of it’s’ investment in young people’s health. The programmer builds on the success of the Young Health Programme by offering grants of up to $10,000 to help non-profit organization ‘step up’ their ideas and projects o the next level.
