Culture is broadly defined as people’s way of living. It reflects the method of thinking, customs and attitudes of a group of people, community or country. Culture is not constant- overtime, it evolves and changes in different ways. The speed at which culture evolves differs in different places with the odds of change increasing significantly as a result of migration.

The impact of culture on health is broad, especially for youth who may struggle with change in cultures when they migrate from one environment or location to another. Culture affects how health, illness, death, disease and approaches to health promotion, are perceived, experienced and expressed as well as where patients go to find help or the types of treatment they prefer. Everyone, including health professionals and patients, is influenced by their respective cultures while health systems in general are shaped by the mainstream beliefs of historically dominant cultures. In health systems, cultural bias may result due to differences in the perception and preferences in health-related services.

Cultural competence is a skill that creates and increases the awareness, existence and reality of the cultural differences in a group. It is practised when health professionals acknowledge and ask about various beliefs and to incorporate this awareness into patient diagnosis and treatment planning. The importance of cultural competence lies in the fact that demonstrating awareness of patients’ culture promotes trust, efficient health care, improves treatment adherence and leads to higher rates of acceptance of diagnoses.

Health is perceived through culture and all cultures have health belief systems that explain the cause and cure of illnesses. Youth health is particularly influenced, to a great extent, by how much they believe health education and promotion is relevant to their culture. This then translates to how they receive the information provided as well as how willing they are to adopt the available information. In industrialized countries such as the United States and Canada, disease is viewed as a result of natural scientific phenomena, consequently, they advocate medical treatments that combat microorganisms and use advanced and innovative technology to diagnose and treat diseases. On the other hand, some non-industrialized countries and societies such as Nigeria believe that some illnesses are a consequence of supernatural phenomena and as a result promote prayer and other spiritual interventions to combat the forces that are responsible for the diseases.

This basic difference and understanding on how culture differs between and within countries reflects culture influences youth health.

Globally, sports remain one of the most popular and widespread activities among youths and children. More so, Football and Swimming are two of the most engaging sports all over the world.

Participation in sports has important benefits for physical, psychological, and social health. Youth development programs based on sports promote a wide range of learning and life skill acquisition. Sport participation encourages a healthy and happy lifestyle and reduces common issues faced by many youths such as obesity and depression. It also fosters physical and emotional health as well as encourages valuable social connections among participants. Besides these health benefits, sport involvement teaches and allows youth to form and strengthen relationships, value self-improvement over winning, remain relevant in a competitive society and work culturally with each other and authorities. It provides opportunities for play, exercise or physical activity and self -expression, acting as a healthy alternative to negative activities such as drug abuse and crime involvement.
Research shows that high school student-athletes are less likely to drop out of school and more likely to go to college.

On an international level, sports act as a uniting force which breaks barriers of differences by creating competition and entertainment. Sport involvement reduces differences in societies and communities which makes it a powerful tool for support and conflict prevention or resolution. Furthermore, a 2008 report on Sport for Development and Peace documented that sports contribute significantly to international, national and local efforts to offer children a healthy start. Sport also equips youth with the information, skills and support needed to transit the key stages of life smoothly and successfully.

Like most good things in life, sports can have some demerits if abused. They become detrimental to health and create negative experiences if overly focused on competition and winning at all costs and disregards the healthy development of youth. These negative experiences may result in low self-esteem, lead to negative relationships, encourage poor sportsmanship, permit aggression and violence, allow discrimination or give room for psychological, sexual and commercial exploitation and abuse. In addition, youth are more susceptible to sports injury due to high degree of training and incomplete development of their musculoskeletal system. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, about 30 million children and adolescents participate in sports just in the United States. Among these participants, approximately 2 million injuries, 500,000 doctor visits, and 30,000 hospitalizations are reported each year. Common types of sports-related injuries among youth include sprains, strains and repetitive motion injuries.

To ensure that youth development remains at the center of all sports activities, sports-based youth development (SBYD) theory and practice model is used in programs to place the mental and physical health of a youth over their athletic success. This model ensures free or subsidized programming to reduce the barriers low-income youth face in accessing sports. Additionally, sports coaches should be chosen carefully, ensuring that they emphasize a positive development experience for youth.
Some successful youth icons include:
1. Katie Ledecky, Swimmer
2. Simone Biles, Gymnast
3. Jordan Spieth, Golfer
4. Evgenia Medvedeva, Skater
5. Chloe Kin, Snowboarder
6. Auston Matthews, Hockey
7. Kilian Mbapper Soccer player

Empowerment means equipping and arming people with the knowledge , potential and requirements to become independent or self sufficient in order to achieve a goal. Youth empowerment is a process where young people are encouraged, supported and equipped to take charge of their lives. Empowerment requires addressing negative or limiting situations so as to take action in order to improve access to resources and consciously transform oneself through beliefs, values, and actions. The aim of youth empowerment is to improve the quality of life of young people and increase dependence on oneself. This is achieved by creating and encouraging participation in youth empowerment programs such as training, education and information sessions or workshops.

Around the world, several youth empowerment models and programs are used to help youth achieve empowerment. These programs are available through non-profit organizations, government organizations, schools or private organizations, individual foundations. Some youths often take the initiative to empower themselves by seeking and taking advantage of these programs. Over the years, various social action and empowerment movements, including youth empowerment, educate the girl child, poverty alleviation and women empowerment spring up, and become institutionalized. Youth empowerment is often described as a marker of development, as well as a roadmap to economic growth, intergenerational equity, civic engagement and democracy building. This is because many activities such as education, business, media, rights, leadership and activism focus on the youths due to increased youth involvement in community decision-making.

The importance and benefits of youth empowerment to individuals, families, communities and nations cannot be overstated. The rationale behind empowerment is to enable participation and enhance control through shared decision making by creating opportunities to learn, practice, and increase skills. Empowerment theory predicts that engaging young people in social, knowledge-acquiring and community-enhancing activities which they define and control, allows them to gain essential skills, responsibilities, and confidence necessary to become productive and healthy adults. Youth empowerment ensures the existence of the five competencies of a healthy youth: (1) positive sense of self, (2) self- control, (3) decision-making skills, (4) a moral system of belief, and (5) pro-social connectedness.
Empowerment takes various forms and considers six interdependent areas including individual, community, organizational, economic, social and cultural.

Individual empowerment enhances individual’s consciousness by increasing awareness and knowledge of problems and solutions. This creates self-confidence and sufficiency in decision making and problem solving thereby increasing the quality of life. Community empowerment focuses on community enhancement through leadership development, communication, and networking to address community issues. Organizational empowerment creates a resource base for the community, including organizations and associations that protect, promote and advocate for the less privileged. Economic empowerment provides training and entrepreneurial skills including how have income security. Social empowerment teaches youth about social inclusion and literacy as well as promotes proactivity. Cultural empowerment highlights and emphasizes cultural practices, rules and norms.
These different forms of empowerment help to develop the youth in one or more aspects of their lives. The overall aim of youth empowerment programs is to create healthier and higher qualities of life for underprivileged and at-risk youth.

Employment is the process of being hired as employee, for a wage, salary, fee or payment to perform or carry out a task, work or job for an employer. Employment is an important marker of development, and can be used to predict how well a country is doing economically. Countries where there is low youth employment usually have very high crime rates since people will often find other means- including illegal ways, to make money.

As determined by John Maynard, unemployment like inequality, is one of the major loopholes of capitalism. Clearly, the link between unemployment and inequality rests on the fact that the inability to obtain a job results in poverty which is the major determinant of inequality resulting from class and status. Youth employment reduces crime and poverty, increases productivity, generates revenue in forms of taxes and creates a sense of responsibility and fulfilment among the youths. Employment helps youth to provide and maintain support for government projects, producing useful outputs. It also generates respect for, and feelings of self-worth in, the workers employed in these projects.

Employment offers several benefits which are available to employees based on the type, length and agreement of the employment. Eligible employees include full and part-time staff hired into permanent, probationary, temporary, term or hourly position, scheduled to work at least 20 hours per week and whose length of employment is at least six months. Some common benefits of employment include:
• Health Insurance including Dental and Vision Insurance
• Basic and Department Life Insurance
• Supplemental Life Insurance
• Disability (Short Term/Long Term) Insurance
• Deferred Compensation
• Retirement Benefits
• Pension

According to a 2012 study on employment and health, employed people showed better self-reported health and longstanding wellness or wellbeing compared to the unemployed individuals. More so, the unemployed were more likely to smoke compared to the employed. Consequently, there is need for on-going job empowerment or health promotion and vocational rehabilitation efforts targeted towards unemployed youth in order to reduce the negative health, social and economic effects associated with unemployment.

Sport is a type of physical activity- defined as any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles, requiring the expenditure of energy. Lack of physical activity has been identified as the fourth risk factor for worldwide mortality, causing approximately 3.2 million deaths. Being a type of physical activity, it is easy to see and understand the benefits of engaging in sports. Participation in sports is beneficial for all ages, gender and body types because it promotes physical, social and mental health through cardiovascular conditioning, team mindset and stress relief respectively. There are various kinds of sports and some remain more relevant or popular in some parts of the world, they include: Football, Basketball, Tennis, Badminton, Javelin, Shotput, Running, Jumping, skating, Handball, Soccer, Skiing, Bowling, Cycling, Swimming, Squash, Hockey, Volleyball, Boxing…. And much more!

Football and Swimming for example are very common in many parts of the world. These sports are also entertaining in nature and can serve many purposes in the form of recreation, leisure, revenue generation and entertainment. Typically, Football is a global sport played with a spherical ball between two opposing teams constituting of eleven players in each team. Football is played by over 250 million people in over 200 countries, making it the world’s most popular sport. The game is played on a rectangular field with a goal post at each end of the field. The aim of football is to score goals by getting the ball into the opposing goal post and the team with the highest number of goals wins. Swimming on the other hand is an individual or team sport which involves the use of arms and legs to move the body through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water bodies such as rivers, seas and lakes. Swimming is one of the most popular Olympic sports, having distance events in butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle and individual medley. The aim of swimming as a sport event is to win competitors by being the fastest swimmer in any given event, as well as break personal or world records.

A good number of scientific evidence support the positive effects of engaging in sports and physical activities as part of a healthy lifestyle. These positive effects of regular physical activity are particularly obvious in the enhancement of the functional capacity of older people, as well as the improvement of quality of life and independence. Sports can also help in the prevention of chronic diseases, including: cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, hypertension, obesity, depression and osteoporosis. A report by the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Sport for Development and Peace states that young people can benefit from physical activity since it contributes to healthy bone development, efficient heart and lung function and improved motor skills or cognitive function. Physical activity can also help to prevent hip fractures among women and reduce the effects of osteoporosis.

Furthermore, studies have shown that sports have positive effects on depression and plays therapeutic roles in addressing a number of psychological disorders. Self-worth, including body image, has been linked to exercise and sports. Sport and physical activity can make substantial contributions to the well-being of people in developing countries as they are used in the treatment and rehabilitation of communicable and non-communicable diseases. Sports, from running track to playing football are exercises that act as stress reducers by causing the brain to release chemical neurotransmitters known as endorphins, which create euphoric feelings and reduce stress. Simply put, a mind focused on a game is not focused on worries.

Obesity is a worldwide health problem affecting all socio-economic groups, irrespective of age, sex or ethnicity. It is an established risk factor for cardiovascular disease, causing significant public health concerns in many countries. A World Health Organization study on nearly 130 million people, including 31.5 million children aged 5-19 years of age, found that the number of obese children and adolescents rose from 11 million in 1975 to 124 million in 2016. This showed that an additional 113 million children became obese within this period- a tenfold increase!

Obesityhas been shown to threaten the feasibility of basic health care delivery as it increases the risk of morbidity and mortality, especially in children and adolescents. The increased prevalence of childhood and adolescent obesity in addition to the potential health implications, have emphasized the need for obesity-related services including research and assessment, treatment and care, as well as prevention and policy making. In the United States, average weight in children has increased by greater than 5 kg when compared to the last three decades. Despite the persistence of economic hardship and poor nutrition, low and middle-income countries report similar or more rapid increase in child obesity just as the wealthy and high-income countries.

Childhoodand adolescent obesity is caused by a multitude of factors including genetic, physiological, endocrine, metabolic, psychological, environmental and socio-cultural. Other factors that promote obesity are children’s choices, diet and physical activity. Poor diet and physical inactivity have increased dramatically in the 21st century, emphasizing processed, unhealthy foods and drinks and sedentary lifestyles. In this advent of technology, children have also become particularly exposed and vulnerable to the marketing, low price and widespread availability of energy-dense and nutrient-poor unhealthy foods and drinks- there is evidence to support that marketing of unhealthy foods and drinks to children is related to childhood obesity.

Immediate and long-term impacts of child and adolescent obesity on physical, social, and emotional health include: increased risk of chronic health conditions and diseases such as asthma, sleep apnea, bone and joint problems, type 2 diabetes and heart disease; high tendency to be bullied and teased more often than their normal weight peers; increased likelihood of social isolation, depression, low self-esteem; and increased potential for adult obesity.
Co-morbid conditions associated with obesity include metabolic, cardiovascular, orthopedic, neurological, hepatic, pulmonary and renal disorders.

The treatment of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents requires a holistic, multidisciplinary, multi-phase approach which includes dietary management, physical activity enhancement, restriction and regulation of sedentary behavior, pharmacotherapy and bariatric surgery. Policies targeted towards nutrition and child obesity should promote healthy growth, secure household nutrition and provide children with incentive to be active and chose foods of good nutritional quality. To properly address the challenge of child and adolescent obesity, the governance of food supply and food markets as well as commercial activities must be improved, and primarily aimed to protect and promote children’s health.

Globally, over 100 million children work in hazardous environment in various sectors including agriculture, mining and domestic labor. On some farms, children work long hours under extreme weather conditions, exposed to nicotine and toxic pesticides that cause sicknesses. In Africa, Asia, and Latin America, child laborers work underground, using toxic mercury to process gold, increasing the risk of brain damage and other serious health conditions. In Nigeria more specifically, child labor remains a major source of concern despite many legislative means to end it. The number of children under the age of 14 who work in Nigeria is estimated at 15 million. Common examples of jobs Nigerian children are involved in include street vendors, beggars, car washers, bus conductors and shoe makers. Others leave their families at an early age to work as apprentices, mechanics, hairdressers, tailors, house maids, domestic servants and farm hands. The most common practice of child labor in Nigeria is the use of children as child domestics or domestic maids.

International Labor Organization (ILO) defines child labor as any work that deprives a child of his or her childhood including the potential for personal, social, emotional, physical and mental development. Most countries define children by age- In Nigeria for example, a child is defined as an individual who is below eighteen (18) years of age. There are various kinds of child labor with the most extreme case involving slavery. Factors that determine if some kinds of work can be termed child labor include: the age of the child, the type and number of hours worked, the conditions under which the work is performed and the objectives or purpose of the work in the individual countries. Work which constitutes child labor refers one to one or more of the following:

• Any work that is mentally, socially or morally dangerous
• Any work that interferes with schooling by taking away the opportunity to attend school or that requires combining school attendance with excessively long and heavy work
• Any work that is physically harmful to health or safety, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, and condones any form of abuse
• Any work that constitutes slavery such as the sale and trafficking, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labor, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflicts
• Hawking and unwilling separation from loved ones or abandonment at a very early age
• The use, acquisition or offering of a child for prostitution, pornography illicit activities and drug trafficking

Research shows that child workers exhibit poor educational achievements because they have insufficient time to study, rest and engage fully in school activities. Major causes of child labor include widespread poverty, rapid urbanization, breakdown in extended family connections, high school drop-out rates, and lack of implementation of laws designed to protect children. Sadly, children are made to work in order to contribute to family’s income and survival. Monies earned by children have become a significant part of income in poor families. These children often experience fatigue, irregular attendance at school, lack of comprehension and motivation, exposure to risk of sexual abuse and involvement in crime either as perpetuators or victims and drop out from school.

Thankfully, international organizations such as Human Rights Watch and ILO work to abolish child labor and to ensure that all children are protected from jobs that interfere with their health, safety, and education.

Tropical Climates are generally described as dry climates in which there are average temperatures of at least 18 °C (64 °F). The tropics are characterized by hot and humid weather as well as abundant rainfall due to the active vertical uplift or convection of air. In areas that have tropical climates, there are usually two seasons- the wet and the dry seasons only. Typically, these kinds of climates, located around the equator, feature no frost and have limited changes in the solar angle. Temperatures in tropical climates remain relatively constant- mostly hot, throughout the two seasons of the year. There are three variations of the tropical climates and they include:

1. Tropical rain forest climate: In cities like Kismu, Kenya and Santos, Brazil
2. Tropicalmonsoon climate: In cities like Kochi, India and Libreville, Gabon
3. Tropical wet and dry climate: In cities like Lagos, Nigeria and Naples Florida in the United States

As stated earlier, the major characteristic of tropical regions is the persistence of high temperatures almost all year round. High temperatures have health impacts and consequences in countries and geographical locations with tropical climates.  This is because temperature has an important influence on the presence and survival of insect vectors that cause vector-borne infectious disease. Specifically, warm temperatures are known to enhance vector breeding as well as facilitate the maturation period of pathogens within vector organisms. Of most significance are various species of mosquito vectors, which transmit diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and yellow fever. This perpetuates the death toll of malaria since adult mosquitoes thrive mostly in warm tropical temperatures because they need humid conditions to remain viable.

The sensitivity of diseases to climate is demonstrated by the fact that diseases such as malaria are mostly confined to tropical and subtropical regions. This climatic sensitivity is also illustrated by the increased transmission of malaria in deserts and highland fringe areas where there are high temperatures and rainfall. Additionally, diarrhoeal diseases vary seasonally in the tropics, suggesting sensitivity to climate. They typically peak during rainy seasons emphasizing that floods and droughts increase the risk of diarrhoeal diseases. Important etiologic agents of diarrhoea linked to heavy rainfall and contaminated water supplies are: Cryptosporidium, E. coli, Giardia lambia, Shigella dysentrae, and Hepatitis A virus.

Given their humidity, many tropical areas provide the desired environment required for the adaptation of their various domicile plants and animals. The tropics are homes for many small animals including monkeys, birds, snakes, rodents, frogs, and lizards. Many of these animals and a multitude of insects remain on trees, never setting foot on the ground- using the tall trees for shelter and hiding places from their predators.

Environmental health can be defined as the discipline and practice of preventing human injuries, illnesses and diseases by promoting well-being, recognising and assessing environmental sources of hazardous agents and reducing exposures that may adversely affect human health. It involves a focus on health protection by monitoring, regulating and eliminating physical, chemical, and biological hazards in all parts of the physical environment such as air, water, soil, food, and other environmental media or settings.Environmental Health is that branch of public health that promotes healthy and safe relationships between people and their environment. As one of the major arms of a complete public health system, environmental health involves advocating, implementing and evaluating policies and programs to reduce health hazards in the environment, especially during and after emergencies.

Emergencies and disasters, including natural disasters, chemical or radiological accidents and complex conflicts are inevitable.Hence, it remains the responsibility of governments and international organizations such as World Health Organization (WHO) to pre-empt and effectively manage these disasters when they occur. The risk factors for disease outbreaks following emergencies or disasters result mainly due to environmental risk factors and population displacement. These factors interact to influence the risk of diseases and death in the affected population, they include availability and accessibility of safe water, the level of crowding and sanitary conditions, existing health condition of the population and the availability of healthcare services (Watson, J. T., et. Al. (2007).

In a study that reviewed potential infectious diseases resulting from the after-effects of natural disasters between 2000 and 2011,researchers found that those disasters including floods, tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, typhoons and tornadoes were associated with infectious diseases such as diarrhea, acute respiratory infections, malaria, leptospirosis, measles, typhoid fever, meningitis, tetanus, dengue fever, viral hepatitis and cutaneous mucormycosis (Kouadio, I. K., et. al (2012).

To completely prevent these emergencies may be impossible because they’re natural, however, handling and managing them can be better. It’s also possible to reduce the probability of their occurrence as well as the resulting consequences and the community’s vulnerabilityif they occur, through vulnerability assessment and other technical means.To reduce the chances of these disasters happening as well as their impact on health and lives, proper planning (emergency preparedness) and actions must be in effect. These plans are usually more cost-effective compared to the costs of dealing with the disasters. Some activities recommended by WHO to reduce the probability and impact of emergencies and disasters include raising awareness, and emergencies, sustainable management of land and infrastructure,effective warning systems, development of relevant national policies, construction of earthquake-resistant buildings, providing water supplies and sanitation systems in earthquake-prone regions and learning from experiences of previous disasters. These activities all require the participation of federal, state and local governments

Given the many differences between developed and developing countries, there are variations in how global health is accepted and practiced in these countries. Developed countries are sovereign states with well urbanized economies and advanced industrial, technical and scientific infrastructure compared to developing or less developed nations. Most commonly, the criteria for evaluating or assessing the degree of economic development include gross domestic product (GDP), gross national product (GNP), the per capita income, level of industrialization, amount of widespread infrastructure and general standard of living. Furthermore, global health practice and health development may be assessed by quality of life, morbidity and mortality rates, research output, amount and availability of funding, life expectancy. Therefore, it is not always black and white which countries should be categorized as developed- and in what areas, and which should be termed developing.

In addition to the differences in the economies and health systems of developed and developing countries, there are also differences in the disease burdens in these countries. The disease burdens in a country- to a large extent, determine its health resources, promotions and global health practice. Developed countries are burdened mostly by chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease and AIDs while developing countries are burdened by infectious diseases such as malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia and flu. Most recently however, developing countries face a double burden of disease due to the consistent adoption of western lifestyle and culture. Infectious diseases in developing countries account for more than 20% of the disease burden world-wide, yet attract less than 1% of the total public and private funds dedicated to health research. Despite bearing 90% of the global disease burden, developing countries receive only 10% of all health research funding used to address these diseases. As a consequence, health care and global health practices are often poorer in developing nations.

It is very important to strengthen healthcare and research capacity in developing countries through national and international funding and collaboration. Currently, several non-profit organizations and governmental bodies, with the help of World Health Organization, Canadian Coalition for Global Health and Commission on Health Research for Development, are making efforts to address this global health research imbalance, commonly known as the 10/90 gap. The imbalance in global health funding, standard of living, GDP and other markers of development between developed and developing countries essentially affect the quality of health care and services in these countries. These in turn affect the practice and progress of global health. Global health, typically defined as the collaborative, multinational, research and action for health promotion, is founded on national public health efforts and organizations. It can be equated principally with individual based and population-wide interventions consisting of strategies for health promotion and improvement, and across all sectors, not just health. Developed countries are pioneers in health research, universal health care and progressive health promotion initiatives mostly because of the amount of funding available for health and also because of their experience and culture.

Despite differences in global health practices, health inequalities exist between population groups in all countries including developed and developing countries. However, the causes of inequalities in these countries may differ significantly. These differences are visible across several groups of social stratification including socioeconomic, political and ethnic.