Partners make the urgent case for investing in the health and well-being of adolescents (2024)

The event marked the release of, Adolescents in a changing world – The case for urgent investment, a landmark report which finds that failure by stakeholders to increase investments in programmes targeted at improving adolescent well-being would result in staggering social and economic costs. The report, commissioned by PMNCH, working with Victoria Institute of Strategic Economic Studies, Victoria University, Australia, WHO, UNICEF and UNFPA, estimates that over the period 2024-50, the average cost of inaction (benefits foregone) has been estimated at US$110 trillion (USD 4.1 trillion per year). This equates to 7.7% of the GDP of the countries included in the models, which cover about 80% of the world’s population.

Presenting the key findings from the report at the WHA77 side event, Professor Bruce Rasmussen of Victoria University stated, “The world is getting harder for adolescents. They are worried about access to health and well-being information and services, climate change, and a learning crisis as they navigate their way around persistent inequalities, violence, poor nutrition, mental health challenges and unplanned pregnancies.” The report outlines that a broad package of health services for adolescents is likely to give a return of USD 9.6 for every dollar invested, while education and training could give returns as high as USD 28.6 for every dollar invested. In addition to education and health, high levels of return are also seen from investments in interventions that focus on reducing child marriage (US$25.9), improving road safety for adolescents (US$9.1), for school feeding programmes (US$17.0) and for programmes to reduce female genital mutilation (US$10.1), among others. “The returns on investment for adolescent well-being are high. This investment will empower young people to meet the challenges in front of them and thrive in the decades ahead.”

Dr Gavin Yamey also outlined the key finding from the Lancet Commission on Investing in Health 3.0 (CIH3), “Dramatic gains in welfare are within reach. Reducing the rate of premature death serves well as a single overreaching goal. Countries that choose to make the right health investments can half their chances of early death, they can half their probability of premature death, by 2050.” The third report of the CIH assesses global investment in health in the post-COVID era, examines progress in tackling AIDS, TB, malaria and maternal and neonatal mortality and child mortality in the decade since the publication of the first CIH report in 2012. “Achieving these targets actually requires us to focus on an incredibly narrow set of 15 conditions. Eight of these conditions are infections and maternal and child health conditions, and seven are non-communicable diseases and injuries.” The full report is due to be released in October 2024 on the occasion of the World Health Summit in Berlin.

In the second half of the event, a distinguished panel of multi-sectoral stakeholders and youth leaders took to the stage to discuss what this new evidence meant to them, including Secretary Xavier Becerra from the United States of America, Secretary Apurva Chandra, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare from the Government of India and Sine Grude a youth leader from Norway, Luc Laviolette from the Global Financing Facility and Aviwe Funani, an advocate from United for Global Mental Health, South Africa.

Recalling last year’s Global Forum for Adolescents and the US Government’s “Action for Adolescents” plan, Secretary Xavier Becerra reaffirmed the commitment to young people’s health and well-being and outlined the way forward to implement this plan on both domestic and global levels. In his closing remark he flagged the need to give children the strongest start in life, “It is so important for us to do the preventative work. It is easier for us to build strong children then rebuilt broken men.”

Discussing India’s journey in advancing adolescent health and well-being, Secretary Apurva Chandra, outlined the priorities for the coming years in regards to holistic, robust, political and financial commitment to adolescents and young people, given the 253 million adolescents currently in India. “Adolescents now have new challenges, including mental well-being issues. Our tele-health programme on mental well-being issues already has 5 million consultations. Finding the right skilled professionals, tackling the issues with different languages and ensuring there is follow-up for this program continues to be a focus.”

Luc Laviolette, of the Global Financing Facility, acknowledged the many issues facing youth and the need for strong action and financing to support their health and well-being. In his final statement, he strongly committed the GFF, “to support countries in applying the evidence we saw today at scale and with equity with a focus on adolescents.”

Aviwe Funani, from United for Global Health, strongly called for mental health, given its immense impact of adolescents and youth, to be a priority as we look towards the post-SDG era, “Invest in prevention and promotion of mental health and put mental health in declaration for future generation at the summit of the future in September 2024.”

Sine Grude, Norwegian Youth Delegate on Health also reflected on allyship between youth and stakeholders in progressing and investing in the health of young people, leaving with a strong call to action to all, “global health governance of the future needs to be more equal and that includes youth representation. We have a lot of good strategies on the table, but now we need action and implementation.”

","datePublished":"2024-05-31T05:00:00.0000000+00:00","image":"https://pmnch.who.int/images/librariesprovider9/general/adolescents-youth-basketball-gender.jpg?sfvrsn=93e902c1_2","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"World Health Organization: WHO","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://pmnch.who.int/Images/SchemaOrg/schemaOrgLogo.jpg","width":250,"height":60}},"dateModified":"2024-05-31T05:00:00.0000000+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":"https://pmnch.who.int/news-and-events/news/item/31-05-2024-partners-make-the-urgent-case-for-investing-in-the-health-and-well-being-of-adolescents","@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle"};

Media Contacts

News

Events