November 25: Ndola Prata, "Adolescent reproductive health in sub-Saharan Africa: collaborative strategies to improve health outcomes"

Please join us Monday November 25th, 12:00-1:30pm in 3105 Tolman Hall for a special presentation by Ndola Prata providing a global perspective on high-impact issues in adolescence. This talk is part of our emerging UC Center for the Developing Adolescent (within IHD).
The UC Center on the Developing Adolescent is an interdisciplinary research and policy center founded on the belief that adolescence represents a maturational period of great vulnerabilities and opportunities—with enormous long-term impact on health, education, well-being, and economic success. The mission of our Center is twofold. First, to use integrative, interdisciplinary approaches to advance understanding of the unique opportunities for early intervention, prevention, and health promotion during this crucial period of adolescent brain development; and second, to pursue innovative approaches to help translate this rapidly emerging knowledge into policies that improve the lives of youth (locally and globally).

This presentation by Dr. Prata will describe a global perspective focusing on opportunities (and vulnerabilities) for adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa (see details below).

Adolescent reproductive health in sub-Saharan Africa: collaborative strategies to improve health outcomes

Ndola Prata, MD, MSc: is the Director of the Bixby Center for Population, Health & Sustainability. A physician and medical demographer originally from Angola, Dr Prata is an Associate Professor in Residence in Maternal and Child Health and holds the Fred H. Bixby Endowed Chair in Population and Family Planning in the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley.

It is estimated that more than a third of the total population in sub-Saharan Africa is aged 10-24. Ten countries with the youngest population in the world are found in SSA—one of these is Ethiopia. Adolescents and young adults in the region are the most vulnerable groups and present the poorest reproductive health indicators. The Bixby Center at UCB has been working collaboratively in the region addressing some of the key challenges and opportunities in adolescent reproductive health policies and programs. Examples of collaborative strategies in Nigeria, Angola and Ethiopia highlight the Centers’ involvement in designing interventions for adolescents aimed at improving individual reproductive health outcomes tied to structural and social factors, as well as providing evidence for policy change.