Event highlights
14 December 2023
Sixty-two youth participants representing 44 organizations in the WHO European Region, together with representatives of UNICEF Europe and Central Asia, United States Agency for International Development, European Commission, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, and WHO/Europe staff made the Force of the future: co-creating youth action on immunization event a resounding success. Interventions by the WHO Regional Director for Europe and the UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia were followed by sessions co-developed by WHO and youth participants on the status of immunization in the European Region, vaccine misinformation, vaccine communication, social media, community engagement, strengthening health-care workers in their role as vaccination advocates, and addressing barriers to vaccination. A living library session offered participants the opportunity to ask questions of each other as well as WHO and partner experts on specific topics such as vaccine safety, vaccine equity and community engagement. Outcomes of the event include plans for further collaboration among and with youth participants and organizations during European Immunization Week 2024 and activities to be undertaken within the Youth4Health initiative.
Event notice
8 December 2023
WHO/Europe’s vaccine-preventable diseases and immunization programme is hosting a collaborative workshop and brainstorming event to foster and strengthen relationships between young professionals/young professional associations focused on immunization. The event will be co-created with the participants and feature poster presentations as well as jointly developed plenary sessions. It will enable representatives of young professional associations to share experiences, ideas and challenges related to ensuring high vaccine acceptance and demand with each other and WHO experts.
This initiative is aligned with WHO/Europe’s Youth4Health initiative, which is committed to actively increasing meaningful youth engagement in all areas of work in implementing the European Programme of Work, 2020–2025 – “United Action for Better Health”.