Abstract
Objectives: We examined associations between accelerators (interventions impacting ≥2 SDG targets) and SDG-aligned well-being indicators among adolescents 16–24 years old in Zambia. Methods: We surveyed adults from 1,800 randomly sampled households receiving social cash transfers. We examined associations between accelerators (social cash transfers, life-long learning, mobile phone access) and seven well-being indicators among adolescents using multivariate logistic regressions. Results: The sample comprised 1,725 adolescents, 881 (51.1%) girls. Mobile phone access was associated with no poverty (adjusted Odds Ratio [aOR] 2.08, p < 0.001), informal cash transfers (aOR 1.82, p = 0.004), and seeking mental health support (aOR 1.61, p = 0.020). Social cash transfers were associated with no disability-related health restrictions (aOR 2.56, p = 0.004) and lesser odds of seeking mental health support (aOR 0.53, p = 0.029). Life-long learning was associated with informal cash transfers (aOR 3.49, p < 0.001) and lower school enrollment (aOR 0.70, p = 0.004). Adolescents with disabled head-of-household reported worse poverty, good health but less suicidal ideation. Conclusions: Social cash transfers, life-long learning, and mobile phone access were positively associated with well-being indicators. Adolescents living with disabled head-of-household benefited less. Governments should implement policies to correct disability-related inequalities.
Highlights
Adolescents are a crucial population group in attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Many socio-demographic characteristics and SDG-aligned targets indicators differed significantly between adolescents living with household heads with and without disability; the three hypothesized accelerators did not differ
The three hypothesized accelerators—Social cash transfers (SCT), life-long learning (LLL), and mobile phone access (MPA)—were significantly associated with no poverty, informal cash transfers, good health, no suicidal ideation, school enrollment, and no health access restrictions related to disabilities when not controlled for socio-demographic covariates
Summary
Adolescents are a crucial population group in attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Adolescents aged 15–24 years comprise 15.5% (1.21 billion) of the global population, reaching 1.29 billion by 2030 [2]. The rapidly developing physical and mental growth in the transition into adulthood during adolescence, has a strong impact on health and well-being in adulthood [1, 3]. In sub-Saharan Africa, where the adolescent population is growing fast, the potential to improve their well-being is more constrained [2]. The region’s adolescents have high rates of mental health conditions, suicide, HIV, and other diseases [4]. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents aged 15–25 years [4]. Planning suicide and suicidal ideation, defined as a preoccupation with thoughts of killing oneself, among adolescents aged 13–17 years in low-income and middle-income countries were the highest in Africa [5]
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