Girl Effect’s CEO, Jessica Posner-Odede, has contributed to an article published in The Lancet – one of the world’s most prestigious medical journals – on the Urgency for transformation: youth engagement in global health.
The article highlights the immediate action that needs to be taken by organisations in order to achieve the ambitions of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, urging organisations to involve young people in decision making when it comes to complex global health issues.
The Lancet article promotes a recent report Girl Effect featured in, commissioned by the World Health Organisation (WHO), titled Engaging Young People for Health and Sustainable Development. The report highlights the need for more successful pioneering initiatives between young people and government, NGOs and businesses to achieve global health goals.
The report features Girl Effect’s programmes including TEGA, our peer-to-peer research platform, as a leading example of a project that ensures young people’s voices are heard in conversations about their health. With its unique platform, TEGA allows girls from their communities to gain invaluable insight and data into areas that are the most underrepresented. By capturing these vital pieces of information through interviews that traditional research might not reveal, TEGA provides a powerful understanding of communities that can help shape programmes.
The piece calls on all leaders in global health to “actively dedicate resources to youth engagement and to urgently rethink approaches to enable young people to have the space, voice, audience, and influence that they need to shape and implement agendas, particularly on issues that affect their own health and wellbeing.”
Jessica co-authored the piece alongside:
- Barbara Bulc – Founder and President, Global Development
- Rohit Ramchandani – Founder and CEO, Antara Global Health Advisors
- Shakira Choonara – Advisory Board Member, African Union Youth Advisory Council
- Flavia Bustreo – Board Member, Fondation Botnar
- Arush Lal – Fellow, Global Health Corps; Board Member, Women in Global Health
- Sarah Walji – Young Nurse Representative, Nursing Now
- Batool Al-Wahdani – President, International Federation of Medical Students’ Association (IFMSA)
- Petra Orlic – President, International Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation (IPSF)
- David Imbago – Board Member, PMNCH AY Constituency; Physician, Ministry of Public Health(Ecuador); Development Liaison, Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights
- Sandro Demaio – Co-Founder, NCDFree; President, EAT Forum (TBC)