26 October 2022
Good morning. It’s been quite the week so far at our Forum for Youth in Tirana – WHO/Europe’s first-ever gathering of its kind.
Ever since I arrived yesterday, I have truly been bowled over by the sheer energy at the Forum – with over 150 young persons, full of activism, drive and passion, with us in the same room – and a large number joining us online as well.
I’ve been determined that WHO/Europe would launch a youth health network for quite some time now – with my own daughter’s experience pushing me all the more.
When my older daughter went to England to study amid the pandemic, she was struck by how many of her contemporaries were depressed, on medication or in therapy.
Adding to the pandemic and its huge impact on physical and mental health, we have so many other crises impacting young people – the climate crisis, the war in Ukraine that’s impacted so many countries, and economic and political uncertainties.
Then, even while young people these days have so much freedom in so many ways, compared to what I had when I was their age, they are also stressed on so many fronts – including the impact of the interactive, online world – where we see an infodemic of misinformation, including about health issues. Then you have cyber-bullying. The list goes on.
It’s never easy being young – but these days it seems to be even more difficult.
But it’s not all doom and gloom, of course. Looking at the young persons here this week – full of determination to be included in health decision-making and have a seat at the policy table – fills me with hope that we’re in good hands. Young people aren’t the decision-makers of tomorrow, they are the decision-makers of today.
This is why WHO/Europe is determined that we will help create the space that young persons need to be included in helping shape the decisions, the policies, the laws, that shape their lives and impact their health and well-being.
In creating Youth4Health, we are working with young persons to build a genuine network.
We will be asking all our 53 Member States across Europe and central Asia to endorse it at our next Regional Committee in 2023 – WHO/Europe’s highest decision-making body, including of all ministers of health.
By governments endorsing Youth4Health, it paves the way for stronger, sustainable youth representation at the policy- and decision-making table.
Over the next year, leading up to the Regional Committee, we will work with the Youth4Health network to identify regional opportunities for youth representation – including on mental health, digital health and health emergencies.
This will be both through existing initiatives – for example, the Pan-European Mental Health Coalition – and other platforms that can expand to add a youth component.
We will include youth consultation from the very outset of key initiatives, so that young persons are effectively co-designers and sounding boards for the work WHO/Europe does.
The Youth4Health network will find ways, with WHO/Europe support along with key partners like UNFPA, for youth inclusion at the national level because that’s where the greatest impact will be felt over time.
I personally want to see as wide a representation as possible in this process – including youth with disabilities, young persons of diverse sexual orientation and gender identity, youth from often marginalized ethnic groups and communities.
Our Youth4Health network will meet in person once every 2 years, with this week’s Tirana Forum the inaugural edition.
Here I want to stress that WHO/Europe doesn’t have all the answers. For genuine youth inclusion, we need young people to help us find the way as well.
Indeed, this week’s forum in Tirana has been shaped by the young people themselves – they’ve chosen the agenda and they’ve helped shape the sessions. It’s been excellent to see such a beautifully crafted forum.
But this is just the start. The success of this first Youth4Health Forum for me will be if young people can come up with concrete ideas on how they can contribute to health policies which take into account the almost 350 million young people in this Region, especially those whose voice never reaches us.
I want to thank Minister Manastirliu and her team, and Mayor Veliaj and the Municipality of Tirana, along with UNFPA and all who have helped make this week happen.
We’re looking forward to doing great work together. Thank you.