Thank you, Your Royal Highness, Chairperson President Ms Ogerta Manastirliu, Member States, Dr Tedros and Dr Kluge, excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
Thank you for the opportunity to deliver this statement, and thank you WHO/Europe for organizing the first Young People and Young Professionals Forum, which was an initiative of the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations, International Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation and the European Medical Students’ Association supported by WHO/Europe.
My name is Bram Wagner and I am a 6th year pharmacy student from the Netherlands. Normally, I would be starting a new internship in a community pharmacy today, but instead, I am here addressing you.
Youth are one of the largest demographics on earth. We are undoubtedly an essential agent of positive change in the world. Therefore, a sustained increase of our engagement in the governance of Member States and WHO/Europe is in the interest of everyone.
With a fresh outlook, surprising creativity and endless motivation, young people are equipped and willing to take part in solving the problems of the world today. The positive impact of utilizing our communication networks, our contribution to the health workforce, and letting our voices shape policies is low-hanging fruit ready to be taken.
We, your children and grandchildren, and my nephew that was born yesterday, will have to face the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and all the health, education and workforce-related challenges that arise from them. We are eager to move beyond tokenistic approaches to youth engagement and to meaningfully engage in policy-making at all levels.
And we have already provided you with the what and the how. A focal point of discussions during the Forum was the creation of a roadmap for increased engagement between WHO/Europe, the Member States and young people. We also had a dialogue with Professor Mario Monti on our reactions to the report of the Pan-European Commission on Health and Sustainable Development and gave our recommendations.
One of our recommendations is to implement and invest in a youth delegates programme for sessions of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe, organized by WHO/Europe as well as by Member States. Further recommendations focus on ensuring meaningful youth participation on all other levels within WHO/Europe.
If you see the serious added value that we have to offer, we also expect you to take serious action. Separate initiatives aimed at youth are welcomed, but ideally, we will eliminate the need for them. The roadmap will be available for you online and will be sent to Dr Kluge next week for his consideration.
We ask the Regional Director and Member States to act upon this roadmap within the next year, and to present the outcomes during the following Regional Committee.
Much like the Regional Committee, the WHO Young People and Young Professionals Forum was a melting pot of ideas and solutions from young people all over the European Region. Nonetheless, it highlighted that being in a separate forum is not the same as being equal. Starting today, we ask all of you to join us and put these draft solutions into the concrete actions we so heartily wish for. We hope you will consider implementing this intervention as a regular intervention at future Regional Committees and thank you very much for your attention.