WHO releases statement following Youth Council Meeting

Last week, we participated in the World Health Organization (WHO) Youth Council Inaugural meeting. Our Advocacy Director, Stefania Minniti, represented us and joined other representatives from diverse youth organizations from both health and non-health backgrounds. As a unit, the Youth Council will provide advice to and actively engage with the WHO Director-General and WHO Senior Leadership.

Below is a Statement from the WHO:

“The Youth Council is the central element of WHO’s commitment to engage with young people, by supporting their leadership, promoting partnerships, and advocating for their recognition and visibility”

— said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General

“Youth voices and your insights can make a real difference to realizing WHO’s vision of health for all”

The Youth Council will provide advice on health and development issues affecting young people, actively engaging the WHO Director-General and senior WHO leadership. It will serve as a platform for designing and incubating new initiatives as well as expanding WHO’s existing youth engagement activities. Through the Youth Council, WHO will develop an inclusive Youth Engagement Strategy across all levels of the organization.

During the four-day meeting, the Youth Council members discussed key priorities and work plans to accelerate progress on universal health coverage, noncommunicable diseases, mental health and youth leading for health. They interacted with the WHO Director-General, Chair of the WHO Executive Board, Dr Kerstin Vesna Petrič, and other senior WHO leaders to brainstorm on concrete initiatives.

Several key outcomes of the meeting include:

agreeing on mechanisms for making partnership opportunities accessible to young people across the globe through the networks represented by the Youth Council members and beyond;
identifying avenues to establish channels for the Youth Council to showcase their work during key WHO meetings and collaborative events;
exploring gaps in the availability of data on health inequity issues of young people and identifying WHO technical support to report these gaps; and
developing a proposal to engage with WHO Member States. As a first step, the Youth Council identified opportunities for the inclusion of youth delegates as part of delegations from Member States and develop mechanisms to integrate youth delegate programmes with support from WHO leadership.

read original who statement

Maolin MacatangayJanuary 31, 2023

WHO releases statement following Youth Council Meeting

Several key outcomes of the meeting include:

agreeing on mechanisms for making partnership opportunities accessible to young people across the globe through the networks represented by the Youth Council members and beyond;

identifying avenues to establish channels for the Youth Council to showcase their work during key WHO meetings and collaborative events;

exploring gaps in the availability of data on health inequity issues of young people and identifying WHO technical support to report these gaps; and

developing a proposal to engage with WHO Member States. As a first step, the Youth Council identified opportunities for the inclusion of youth delegates as part of delegations from Member States and develop mechanisms to integrate youth delegate programmes with support from WHO leadership.