GA AGENDA

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GA theme: “ INVESTING IN HEALTH OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH “

Key Message

All children and young people should have the means and the opportunity to
develop to their full potential to live healthy and fulfilled lives.

Introduction

Health and personal well being are terms that can be taken for granted, especially in western
nations, where access to care and health services are often seen as not as relevant subjects to
discuss. Thus healthcare inequalities and deficiencies tend to be considered the ongoing issues
of developing nations and not of the developed nations.
However, even with the most technological advances in developed nations and the continued efforts in developing nations, the issue of health and well being is an imminent area of concern - especially related to children and young people, whose health is often marginalized and health programming under-funded.
We have come to realize that health and illness follow a social gradient at all levels of income — the lower the person’s socio-economic status, the worse his or her health.
In light of the economic crisis, without adequate social protections, especially related to health, people will be further marginalized with a possibility of greater social unrest, especially threatening children and young people. Providing adequate health care and preserving child rights and human rights, to the ever-expanding population of the world is an indispensable task for healthcare providers, especially future physicians, filled with numerous hardships and obstacles.
Initiative must be taken by those with the resources, vision and knowledge to make an impact in the world.
We are beginning to slowly recognize our struggles with health on a multitude of levels - the
migrant populations receiving inadequate access to care, the rampant increase of obesity and
associated illnesses, the disparity in care in low income neighborhoods, the record high
increases in teenage suicide and pregnancy, the marginalization of the poor and people in crisis
situations, and a slew of other issues.
There is still a continued human security threat with the proliferation of weapons, terrorism, conflict and war-torn areas. As well with the changing global climate, in the literal sense, but more significantly, as populations traverse borders with increasing frequency, the issues of our distant neighbors can no longer be dissociated from our own. Societies around the world are entrenched with each other in a global context.
Furthermore, reiterating that the issue of health and personal being is an ongoing effort and
developmental process across borders and groups of people.
The economic crisis is having a social impact and further challenging the attainment of
health for all. While there is an overall decline in the resources devoted to poverty reduction,
development, social protections and health - the greatest impact is on women and children.

Higher unemployment is challenging family structures - forcing more and more women and
children into the work-force and threatening child nutrition, education and healthcare and
challenging the community by stunting growth and intellectual development.
In regards to overall health, the greatest challenges ahead are in social protections for food quantity and quality for children, maternal health, low birth weights, child mortality, and access to health services, long-term investment in health and nutrition, and health education.
In these difficult times, we must strive, even more, to support social protections and reduce
inequalities in health, especially for the most marginalized groups - children and young people.
Primary health care, as a holistic framework, is a key strategy in ensuring that health efforts are meaningful.
It places emphasis on ensuring that essential health care is made universally accessible to individuals and families in the community by means acceptable to them, through their full participation and at a cost that the community and country can afford.
Most importantly, it is a cross-sectorial approach - linking health improvement to human
security, economic development, poverty reduction, environmental issues, education
improvement, policy and advocacy, food and water safety and security and many other areas
that impact health.
Too often, these areas of health development are neglected and may possibly contribute to making our at times efforts restrictive, unilateral and ineffective.
Primary health care is about empowerment of the individual, family and community in their health promotion at a cost. It is an integral part of health systems, ensuring overall social and
economic development, as part of achieving health for all. It is about brining health to the
people.
We must emphasize the inclusion of children and young people, as actors and not
merely bystanders, in the Primary Health Care framework. Human-right based approach to addressing needs of children and young people has been introduced to health care systems more slowly than expected. Providing healthcare and proper counseling to children and young people – as well as insuring basic access did prove a serious problem with long-term consequences for societies.
In this light we would also like to emphasize on the importance of insuring Convention of the Rights of the Child is high on the agenda of all stakeholders when it comes to the right to health of children and youth. We should also keep in mind that the majority of mothers who give birth are under the age of 20, particularly in low-income countries.
Pregnancy of young girls does have great health repercussions that may add greatly to child mortality rates or increase of obstetric fistula, among many other issues. Traditional gender roles, lack of education and empowerment does limit young girls and young women to have their reproductive and sexual rights respected.
In this light, it is important to sensitize future physicians on the importance of implementation
and achieving goals set by the International Conference on Population and Development.
We should be interested in issues of development in low income countries, as much the
continued promotion of health and well being in developed nations, where issues relating to
health are continually expanding.
We must believe in the importance of dynamic partnerships and collaborations on multiple levels ranging from advocacy , outreach, education, field implementation of projects, researching to expanding funding and many other continued efforts to promote universal health and well being, regardless of socio-economic-political background.
We must focus on building and achieving concrete targets, locally, but most importantly globally.

More details about the theme can be found HERE