Theme: Nurturing Young Healthcare Professionals towards the Actualization of SDG 3: Good Health & Wellbeing for All

Ryculture Health and Social Innovation[1] is a forward-looking social enterprise that works with youth leaders, young healthcare professionals and youth-led organizations in Kenya to improve access to quality healthcare services and products and promote human capital development through operational research, health communication, health systems strengthening and capacity building programs.

Ryculture Health and Social Innovation through the YouTH Voices Network, a platform designed to enlighten, empower and evoke action among the Kenyan youth to act for their health & health of their communities, will host the 3^rd Annual YouTH Voices Summit from 15^th – 17^th November 2023 at the Amref International University. This is an annual convening that brings together young healthcare professionals, health advocates, thought leaders and policy makers for knowledge sharing, policy shaping and inspiring discussions with a focus on galvanizing action, fostering partnerships and making commitments to work towards the realization of Universal Healthcare Coverage (UHC) with the youth at the center for sustainable gains.

Under the theme: ’Nurturing Young Healthcare Professionals towards the Actualization of SDG 3 – Good Health and Wellbeing for All’, students, researchers, young healthcare professionals, health advocates and youth-led organizations among others are invited to submit abstracts with focus on the theme and subthemes as outlined below:

Conference Sub Themes

Presenters can write on any of the following sub-themes with a focus on any disease area, project/program intervention of their choice.

The abstract submission should be based on one of the following sub-themes:

1. Primary Healthcare: the focus should be on possible interventions geared towards strengthening primary healthcare systems at different levels (community level, dispensaries/clinics, nursing homes, sub-county hospitals and private/ referral hospitals) to optimize health service delivery and access.
2. Mental Health: the focus should be on mental health challenges, determinants, interventions for mental health promotion and research to determine policy priorities. Interventions & perspectives on youth mental health and the nexus between climate change and mental health are highly encouraged.
3. Health Systems Resilience: the focus should be on interventions for creating resilient health systems i.e. strengthening emergency risk management, disaster response and pandemic preparedness and improving access to primary healthcare service delivery.
4. Youth perspective & youth-led solutions for SDG 3: the focus should be on youth-led solutions that address any of the SDG 3 targets (Targets 3.1 – 3.9) to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all ages. Sustainability aspects for these youth-led interventions & imperatives should come out clearly.
5. Climate Change & Planetary Health: the focus should be on climate change and its implication on health, interventions to slow or reverse climate change and its impact on health. The abstract can present on ideas/ research on how to curb the menace of disease outbreaks (infectious diseases and zoonotic diseases) and anti-microbial resistance.
6. Digital Health Technologies: the focus should be on digital health technologies (m-health, telemedicine, digital technology for health) as enablers in health systems strengthening. Preference is given to low tech solutions with potential to deliver impact at scale.
7. Sustainable Sexual Reproductive Health Interventions: Investments in SRH services and solutions have been there and will continue being there. Driven by donor led programs – sustainability needs to be fostered. What’s the way forward? Sustainable youth-led SRHR interventions? Youth-led organizations as funnels to care pathways for sustainability? Young healthcare workers as practice transformation agents for sustainable SRH interventions? 

Abstract Submission and Presentation Guidelines

1. The abstract presentations (can be made either as a group or individually) will be either of the two ways:
2. Oral presentations to last 10 minutes
3. Poster presentations.
4. Word limit: 300 – 500 words
5. Abstracts must be typed in English, Font and size Segoe UI 10
6. The abstracts should be in line with the conference theme and/or sub-themes as discussed above.
7. Submissions by individuals should be no more than two as first author.
8. Abstracts to be sent via email to abstracts.ryculture@gmail.com with the title of the abstract as the email subject

The submitted abstracts will be reviewed by Ryculture Youth Voices Summit planning team and final decisions on the selected abstracts will be communicated via email. 

Timelines & Submission Details

Call for Abstract Submission: 20^th July 2023

Deadline: 20^th September 2023

Outlook

The abstracts should include the following depending on whether the abstract is research based or not

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[1] Ryculture Health and Social Innovation: https://ryculture.org/

Call for Abstracts (Download)