Community, Youth, and Resilience

The Challenge

Current evidence indicates a strong relationship between the social and structural determinants of health and health resilience. However, the underlying mechanisms need to be better documented, and effective policies related to this relationship must be established.  With increasing focus on the resilience of health systems, understanding these mechanisms will be crucial to developing programming that can foster health resilience at the individual and community levels to impact health and socioeconomic outcomes, particularly among youth. Youth represent an increasingly large proportion of the global population. Given the unique opportunities during the critical transition from childhood to adulthood, supporting youth resilience is integral to supporting health system and community resilience and overall youth health.

Group of young african people are studying together in university. Students outdoors.

Our Work

The Role of Social Capital in Improving Health Outcomes, Equity, and Resilience.

Through quantitative analysis of secondary data, this study aims to answer the following research questions:

    • Does social capital influence physical and mental health outcomes?
    • Does social capital influence health care utilization?
    • Does social capital improve household resilience as measured by financial risk protection?
    • Does the influence of social capital on health outcomes vary by household economic status?

Examining Resilience of Youth Health-Seeking Behaviors and Socio-economic Outcomes to a Global Shock

Through a mixed methods case study in Nigeria, we will investigate health care utilization and socio-economic outcomes of youth in Nigeria during the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic and the program efforts and challenges to supporting youth resilience and retention in care during this shock. Research questions include:

    • What enabled or fostered youth resilience through the acute phase of the pandemic?
    • How did the pandemic and its associated restrictions interact with existing barriers to seeking health care and other services for youth in this context? How successful were programs and services at retaining youth in care?
    • What were the specific challenges youths faced in this context during the pandemic? How were these challenges addressed?
    • How do the challenges posed by the pandemic compare to other stresses the youth face?

Findings are expected to inform future health systems strengthening programming both on their own and as inputs into the Accelerator’s broader equity capstone.

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