Dr. David Ross, Medical Officer at the WHO Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health in Geneva spoke at the breakout session panel on “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages” which also included the UN Population Fund, Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health, International Planned Parenthood Federation, and the International Federation of Medical Students Associations. Dr. Ross discussed the increasing priority WHO is giving to work on adolescent health and wellbeing, mainly through the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health, which will be the roadmap for WHO’s work on adolescent health over the next 15 years. One major contribution to this is the Global AA-HA! Implementation Guidance document (Accelerated action for the Health of Adolescents), which aims to support countries as they decide what they will do in adolescent health and how they will do it. Currently being developed by the WHO Secretariat in close collaboration with other UN H6 partners and UNESCO, young people, governments, civil society organizations, and academics. The Global AH-HA! will be launched in May 2017 during the World Health Assembly.
Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health
A number of partner-led side events took place during the forum, such as the Every Woman Every Child event hosted with the UN President of the General Assembly entitled “Youth Marketplace on Social Innovations for Health and Wellbeing”. The event brought together young entrepreneurs to highlight the role of youth and innovation in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, with one panelist pitching her new app, which targets adolescents going through rough times and focuses on peer support and empathy to connect individuals with shared experiences.
The topic of mental health will continue to take center stage in New York as we near this year’s World Health Day, 7 April, on the theme “Depression: Let’s Talk”.