The WHO Youth Council boldly calls for a healthier world

The World Health Organization Youth Council launched his first Youth Declaration on Creating Healthy Societieswith a series of calls to action informed and developed by young people from around the world and aimed at empowering young people to play a central role in creating healthier and safer societies for all.

“The World Health Organization Youth Council is proud to issue its first Youth Declaration on Building Healthy Societies,” said Kate Ndocko, Member of the World Health Organization Youth Council. “This Declaration represents our shared commitment and priorities to help communities, especially young people, at the local, regional and global levels, to be healthier and more resilient in the face of the many health challenges the world faces today and those to come.”

The declaration was launched today during World Health Summit which takes place in Berlin. It lays out 10 calls to action that put young people at the center of co-creating healthier societies globally and explains what it takes to make it happen. Calls to action ensure:

• Access, equity and inclusion of youth in education by removing barriers and designed to reflect the diverse health needs of individuals and communities.
• A comprehensive national curriculum on health, climate change and digital literacy.
• Quality and adaptive education through flexible and responsive learning environments.
• Youth engagement and leadership in designing and implementing health policies and programs.
• Inclusive, accessible and prevention-oriented health care, including youth from marginalized and vulnerable groups.
• Investing in youth to empower them to become leaders and drive solutions in the areas of health, climate change and education.
• Brave spaces are being created for healthy environments that protect young people from social and institutional barriers and protect them from violence, harassment and other harmful practices.
• Inclusion of youth by governments, international organizations and civil society organizations in the co-creation of policies on priority health needs.
• Valuing the experiences of young people, including their diversity and views, in the development and implementation of health policies.
• Greater support for local youth organizations as a means of investing in future generations.

“WHO is committed to strengthening the voices of young people to achieve our shared vision of health for all,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “The Youth Declaration on Creating Healthy Societies, issued by the Youth Council of the World Health Organization, does just that, channeling the ideas, advice and action of young people into a powerful call for change and showing what can be achieved when young people are actively involved in shaping their health and future. .”

Rehman Hassan, WHO Youth Council Member of the Act4Food Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) campaign, said: “We can no longer afford to waste the advice, skills and energy of young people in transforming our communities, policies and the planet at large. Pandemics and epidemics, conflicts, the spread of misinformation and the health risks posed by climate change, among others, threaten the health and well-being of billions of people. Young people are the most underrepresented group in governance, but half of the world's population is under 30 years old. It is high time we included them and included their solutions for a healthier way forward. The Youth Council and its constituent organizations, working with the WHO, are committed to charting this healthier path for the present and the future.”

The WHO Youth Council was established in 2023 and is a dynamic network that aims to amplify the voices and experiences of young people and harness their expertise, energy and ideas to promote public health. Members of the Youth Council are young representatives of health and non-health organizations and movements. They advise and actively collaborate with the WHO Director-General and WHO senior leadership to ensure that health policies and programs reflect the expertise, innovation and needs of young people worldwide. The WHO Youth Council also serves as a platform to design and incubate new initiatives and to scale up existing WHO youth engagement initiatives.

Editor's notes

The following organizations are represented in the Youth Council of the World Health Organization: Act4Food, a campaign of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN); African Public Health Student Network (AfricaPHSN) initiative; Climate cardinals; Commonwealth Youth Health Network (CYHN) – Commonwealth Secretariat; Digital transformations for the health laboratory (DTH-Lab); European network of specialists in public health (EuroNet MRPH); Grassroot Soccer; Healthy Caribbean Coalition/Healthy Caribbean Youth; Innovations for Health Equity in Africa; International Federation of Medical Student Associations (IFMSA); International Federation of Pharmacy Students (IPSF); International Student One Health Alliance (ISOHA); International Student Surgical Network (InciSioN); International Youth Alliance for Family Planning; International Youth Health Organization; Origen; International LGBTQI Organization of Youth and Students (IGLYO); UN Main Group on Children and Youth (MGCY); Universities Associated for Essential Medicines (UAEM); World Medical Association Young Doctors Network (WMA JDN); World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM); Young Professionals Chronic Disease Network; Young Professionals in Foreign Policy (YPFP); Youth Alliance (a branch of the Coalition for a Healthy Latin America -CLAS-); and Youth and Environment Europe.

During its stay in Berlin, the WHO Youth Council held an intensive three-day event, which enabled and supported Bertelsmann Foundationto create ideas for cooperation, action and future work. During the sessions, new members of the Council from a number of bodies were announced.

The Bertelsmann Foundation is committed to ensuring that everyone can participate in society – politically, economically and culturally. His topics are education, democracy, Europe, health, values ​​and the economy. At the same time, it puts people at the center of its efforts. Because it is people who can move, change and make the world a better place. For this purpose, we use knowledge, transfer skills and develop solutions. The Bertelsmann Stiftung was founded in 1977 by Reinhard Mohn.