WHO: New report maps efforts to improve adolescent health and well-being

Students at Guadalupe Oltepesi Primary School show marks on their fingers that indicate that they have been vaccinated during the oral cholera vaccination (OCV) campaign in Kajiado on 4 August 2023.  The OCV campaign was held from 3 – 12 August 2023 as part of the ongoing response to a cholera outbreak which was first reported in Kenya in October 2022. More than 1800 vaccinators and 900 volunteers were involved in the campaign, which reached almost 1.7 million people in 8 sub-counties.

GENEVA, Switzerland – The World Health Organization (WHO) released the second edition of its biennial report, “Working for a brighter, healthier future: how WHO improves health and promotes well-being for the world’s adolescents”.

The document captures WHO’s response across the three levels – headquarters, regional and country offices – to meet the multifaceted needs of the estimated 1.3 billion adolescents (aged 10 –19 years) worldwide.

“This report showcases many examples of WHO’s engagement with adolescents to elevate their health and well-being,” said Dr Anshu Banerjee, WHO director for the Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing. “This is done through collaboration and coordination of new initiatives, developing norms and standards, policy guidance and establishment of ambitious objectives with development partners and stakeholders.”

Key milestones in improving adolescent health

“These are just a few highlights of our work over the last two years and the report provides further information on all our collective efforts across the organization,” said Dr Banerjee. “It shows how much we can achieve by working together towards a common goal to promote, provide, protect, empower and perform for the health and well-being of adolescents.”

The decade ahead

Adolescents today are healthier than a few decades ago and have more opportunities to develop their full potential. However, the scale and scope of the global threats to their well-being, including conflicts, climate crises and other humanitarian emergencies, all compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, now put decades of progress at grave risk.

“We are committed to strengthen our culture of partnerships with civil society and young people, the private sector and parliaments in health and other priority sectors,” said Dr Banerjee. “Building on WHO’s initiatives such as the Youth Council and the Civil Society Commission will help accelerate action by focusing on human rights, accountability, and community engagement. It will build stronger mechanisms to engage civil society, community based organizations and youth groups in our work.”

Related links 

  • A77/A/CONF./3 Social participation for universal health coverage, health and well-being
  • A77/A/CONF./3 Add.1 Financial and administrative implications for the Secretariat of resolutions proposed for adoption by the Health Assembly

Source: caribbeannewsglobal.com

Share