YCNTDs and NNN partner to Launch the First Youth-Led Event at NNN Conference
As the world increasingly embraces youth on the WHO #2030RoadMap to #EndNTDs, it must be remembered that youth cannot engage other youth alone. We need to be integrated into national and international platforms meaningfully to contribute effectively to policy and action for change.
This is the powerful statement made by WHO’s Priya Pathak who was in the audience at our first youth-led panel discussion at the 2023 NNN Conference. For many attendees present at the event, this statement not only resonated as a point to consider and act on going forward, but it also spoke to the very reason why our event was needed on this platform. In this article, we share more highlights, key learnings, as well as our full experience from the event and conference.
From the 19th to –21st of September 2023, Youth Combating Neglected Tropical Diseases (YCNTDs), supported by Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases (UTC), attended the 14th annual NTD NGO Network (NNN) Conference where we were invited to host the very first youth led panel discussion in the history of the conference.
Titled Demand Generation: The Role of Youth in Creating a Movement to End NTDs, our event took place on 20 September 2023 in Dar es Salaam. The event was hosted by two YCNTDs Advisory Board members, Mary-Jean Nleya and Joachim Mabula, with the panel including young NTD advocates and practitioners from YCNTDs (Hooria Amiri), the NTDs Youth Organization in Japan, The Leprosy Mission in Nepal, and Research Triangle International.
In delivering the event, YCNTDs sought to achieve internal program goals and contribute to the NNN2023 objectives by:
- Setting a precedent and model for young people to contribute to and be included in the NNN going forward.
- Introducing young practitioners as professionals and advocacy leaders in the NTD space.
- Increasing the demand for NTD services in endemic countries, particularly by youth groups.
- Exposing the cross-sectoral link between NTDs and emerging global health priorities such as Climate Change, Universal Health Coverage (UHC), and Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response (PPPR).
During the panel discussion, 5 key insights emerged:
- 💡 To eliminate the neglect of tropical diseases, it is crucial that we effectively highlight them as part of broader health systems and as directly linked to the emergency health crises o
f today. - 💡 As the heirs to the global health systems, youth carry an added responsibility to generate demand to end the neglect of NTDs. As a result, youth championship and leadership in the NTDs space should be an end goal in itself.
- 💡 For the youth, storytelling plays a huge role in generating demand and creating a movement to end NTDs. It is especially effective when we are able to adapt it to changing media and to various stakeholders.
- 💡 Social media has been identified time and again as an effective tool for advocacy and raising awareness for NTDs. However, in communities where affected people may not have access to the internet, we should also lean on the will and expertise of grassroots parliamentarians and practitioners.
- 💡As the world increasingly embraces youth on the WHO #2030RoadMap to #EndNTDs, it must be remembered that youth cannot engage other youth alone. We need to be integrated into national and international platforms meaningfully to contribute effectively to policy and action for change.
The NNN2023 conference marked an important milestone for us as it provided the opportunity to go back to the place where YCNTDs was established in 2020 to convene the first youth-led panel event of the conference.
We are also excited to report that during the conference we connected with our peers from One Health Society Tanzania as well as other NTD organizations and Champions who expressed their interest in various forms of collaboration with YCNTDs in the future.
Our YCNTDs event recording is now available for streaming on our YouTube channel.
Youth Combating Neglected Tropical Diseases (YCNTDs) is a global community of young changemakers fighting to end Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) through engaging, empowering, and supporting communities to become disease-free. As an initiative of Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases (UTC) and Future Africa Forum, YCNTDs engages with stakeholders whose work contributes towards the elimination of NTDs.
Inaugural meeting of the WHO Youth Council
From January 27-30, Youth Combating Neglected Tropical Diseases (YCNTDs) participated in the first-ever World Health Organization (WHO) Youth Council in-person meeting in Geneva, Switzerland at the WHO headquarters. This meeting brought together 22 diverse youth organizations from health and non-health backgrounds from all over the world, representing the power of youth in driving positive change for public health.
The WHO Youth Council was established in June 2022 with the goal of amplifying the voices and experiences of young people and leveraging their expertise, energy, and ideas to promote public health. The meeting served as an important space for Youth Combating NTDs to share their experiences in combating Neglected Tropical Diseases and highlight key priorities in addressing health equity challenges faced by the youth.
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, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Chair of the WHO Executive Board, Dr. Kerstin Vesna Petrič, and other senior WHO leaders to brainstorm on concrete initiatives.
During the meeting, the WHO Youth Council agreed on mechanisms for making partnership opportunities accessible to young people across the globe through the networks represented by the Youth Council members, identified avenues to showcase the Youth Council's work during key WHO meetings and collaborative events, explored gaps in the availability of data on health inequity issues of young people and identifying WHO technical support to report these gaps and developed a proposal to engage with WHO Member States, including the inclusion of youth delegates as part of delegations from Member States.
The WHO Youth Council is an exciting platform for young people to design and incubate new initiatives and expand WHO's existing youth engagement activities. Through the Youth Council, WHO will develop an inclusive Youth Engagement Strategy across all levels of the organization, ensuring that the perspectives and needs of young people are heard and acted upon.
In conclusion, the inaugural face-to-face gathering of the WHO Youth Council was a resounding triumph that united various youth groups from around the globe with a shared objective of advancing public health and we look forward to championing Neglected Tropical Diseases on this global stage.