Bridgetown, Barbados, 12 August 2020 (PAHO/WHO) — Since 1999, International Youth Day is celebrated on the 12th of August. It gives an opportunity to celebrate and mainstream young peoples’ voices, actions, and initiatives, as well as their meaningful engagement in enriching national institutions and processes.
This year the theme is 'Youth Engagement for Global Action'. It calls on the global community to enhance representation and engagement of young people to increase the fairness of political processes and support the development and implementation of solutions to pressing challenges and threats, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Hence for this year’s celebration, PAHO is proposing to focus on Youth Engagement in Health, with emphasis on the COVID-19 response. Older age groups and people with underlying conditions (asthma, cancer, etc.) have been identified as high-risk groups for COVID-19 – related severe morbidity and mortality.
This emphasis on older people may have inadvertently given young people the impression that they are not at risk. This compound the tendency of young people to underestimate potential risks and overestimate their capacity to deal with those risks. As a result, young people may be less compliant with prevention measures to protect their own health and the health of those around them.
Prevention measures profoundly interrupts the daily lives of all, including young people. Considering that an inherent element of the developmental stage of adolescence is the expansion of social network beyond the immediate family, and increasingly counting on their peer network for validation and support, the sudden loss of these networks can have a profound effect on the health and wellbeing of young people.
Because of their developmental stage, young people may be less equipped emotionally and socially to deal with the uncertainties that come with the epidemic, including interruption of education, loss of employment, etc.
Supporting and promoting positive development and addressing their mental health during and in the aftermath of the pandemic, will be important to reduce the risk of immediate and long-term negative consequences.
However, they can also contribute significantly to the response, hence the need for youth engagement for Health.
Young people represent a valuable resource and network during crises and public health emergencies. With the right training on the disease and its transmission, and engagement young people can work jointly with the health authorities to help break the chain of infection.
To this effect, the PAHO office for Barbados and Eastern Caribbean Countries (PAHO ECC) has collaborated with the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Youth and Youth Organizations to support meaningful engagement of young people by:
- Conducting a regional Young People Dialogue on "COVID-19 Adjusting to the New Normal".
- Building capacities of the youth leaders and developing a virtual youth camp in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
- Open Mic video challenge on youth engagement for health in Saint Kitts
- Youth engagement for Climate Change – including PAHO Youth for Health Group.
- Panel discussion on "The future of youth employment post COVID-19" in Grenada.
This year, PAHO ECC has collaborated with the Ministry of Youth, and the Ministry of Health in Nevis to celebrate the day by participating in a "Youth Impact Award Ceremony". This event seeks to celebrate young people's resilience, talents, skills, and young people's creativity.
