Article 16
Health
1. Every young person shall have the right to enjoy the best attainable state of physical, mental and spiritual health.
2. States Parties shall undertake to pursue the full implementation of this right and in particular shall take measures to:
a) Make available equitable and ready access to medical assistance and health care especially in rural and poor urban areas with an emphasis on the development of primary health care;
b) Secure the full involvement of youth in identifying their reproductive and health needs and designing programmes that respond to these needs with special attention to vulnerable and disadvantaged youth;
c) Provide access to youth friendly reproductive health services including contraceptives, antenatal and post natal services;
d) Institute programmes to address health pandemics in Africa such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria;
e) Institute comprehensive programmes to prevent the transmission of sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS by providing education, information, communication and awareness creation as well as making protective measures and reproductive health services available;
f) Expand the availability and encourage the uptake of voluntary counselling and confidential testing for HIV/AIDS;
g) Provide timely access to treatment for young people infected with HIV/AIDS including prevention of mother to child transmission, post rape prophylaxis, and anti-retroviral therapy and creation of health services specific for young people;
h) Provide food security for people living with HIV/AIDS;
i) Institute comprehensive programmes including legislative steps to prevent unsafe abortions;
j) Take legislative steps such as banning advertising and increasing price in addition to instituting comprehensive preventative and curative programmes to control the consumption of tobacco, exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and alcohol abuse;
k) Raise awareness amongst youth on the dangers of drug abuse through partnerships with youth, youth organisations and the community;
l) Strengthen local, national, regional and international partnerships to eradicate the demand, supply and trafficking of drugs including using youth to traffic drugs;
m) Provide rehabilitation for young people abusing drugs such that they can be re-integrated into social and economic life;
n) Provide technical and financial support to build the institutional capacity of youth organisations to address public health concerns including issues concerning youth with disabilities and young people married at an early age.
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