Adesola Oluwafunmilola Olumide is a Senior Medical Research Fellow and Consultant Physician at the Institute of Child Health, University of Ibadan and University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria. Adesola's research interests include the epidemiology and risk factors for non-communicable conditions and health risk behaviors among adolescents. In addition, she has a keen interest in using electronic media to reach adolescents and young people with health interventions. Adesola currently serves as a Commissioner on the WHO-UNICEF-Lancet Commission on Child Health and Well-Being. She also serves on the National Adolescent Health Technical Working Group in Nigeria and has been involved in developing and revising key Adolescent Health documents and training manuals for the Federal Ministry of Health. She has extensive experience working among various populations of adolescents including in-and out-of-school and very young adolescents.

Gown and Town: Synergy for Enhanced Societal Impact

There are nearly 1.2 billion adolescents (10-19 years old) worldwide. Unfortunately, this is the population group that remains overlooked and neglected in nearly every health care system. Adesola's research findings revealed that adolescents enrolled in secondary school were less likely to engage in health-risk behaviours (cigarette smoking and unsafe sexual practices) compared to their out-of-school counterparts.

The overarching aim of the project is to identify feasible actions for promoting senior secondary school retention, which will be disseminated to school owners in Ibadan, Nigeria. Adesola will collaborate with stakeholders (adolescents and teachers) to develop:

(i) a prioritized list of common locally relevant enablers and barriers to secondary school retention

(ii) feasible interventions to encourage secondary school retention and

(iii) a research brief, to facilitate dissemination of these messages to school owners i.e. government and private school proprietors at a Public Health fair with the theme, “Education is a Vaccine”.

To achieve this, she will utilize participatory methods namely: a datawalk (with adolescents and teachers); a photovoice exercise for in and out-of-school adolescents; and a community mapping exercise with teachers. These activities will enable Adesola to advocate for improved senior secondary school enrollment and retention in Nigeria.