Global Health Matters
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Global Health Matters
We are here now: youth shaping global health
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The world is witnessing its largest youth generation ever, with half of the global population under 30. A sustainable future hinges on the meaningful engagement of young people. In this episode, host Garry Aslanyan speaks with three charismatic young global health leaders. Inês Costa Louro is a first-year medical doctor from Portugal and the former Vice President for External Affairs of the International Federation of Medical Students' Associations. Aloyce Urassa is a public health scientist from Tanzania and Chairperson of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance Youth Advisory Council. And Hamaiyal Sana is a Pakistani medical doctor and Vice Chair of the World Health Organization’s Youth Council. Together, they delve into the crucial role young people are playing in shaping health-related decision-making today and in the future.
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Hello and welcome to the Global Health Matters podcast. I'm your host, Gary Aslanion. The world is witnessing its largest youth generation ever, with half of the global population under 30. A sustainable future hinges on the meaningful engagement of young people. If you haven't yet listened, I encourage you to listen to previous episodes, Pockets of Optimism, Empowerment of Youth to Improve Mental Health. In today's episode, you will hear from three charismatic young voices in global health. Together, we delve into the crucial role young people can play in shaping health-related decision-making today and in the future. I'm joined by Ines Costa Loro, Alois Urasa, and Hamayal Sana. Ines is first-year medical doctor from Portugal and the Vice President for External Affairs of the International Federation of Medical Students Association. Alois is a public health scientist from Tanzania and chairperson of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance Youth Advisory Council. And Hamayal Sana is a Pakistani medical doctor and vice chair of the World Health Organization's Youth Council. Thank you everyone for joining me today. I want to start our conversation by asking each of you briefly to share with our listeners how you have used your voice in global health. Maybe we can start with Ines, your experience.
SPEAKER_00I'm currently the Vice President for External Affairs of the International Federation of Medical Students Associations. So I work with our members, medical students from all over the world, and I try to collect and connect their views on several global health topics, namely public health, planetary health, medical science, and so on. Besides the IFMSA, I'm also part of youth networks in the WHO Regional Office for Europe, one of them, and the other one in the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. And these networks are also a great platform for me to speak on behalf of my own generation, on behalf of youth, in these two particular cases, mostly about substance use prevention. So, yes, it's great to have several opportunities to bring our perspective to the table.
SPEAKER_01Great. What about you, Alois?
SPEAKER_04On my side, uh bringing youth using my voice for global uh impact, it has been a journey as well. And um I can speak uh at the moment when I'm sitting as a chair of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance, Youth Advisor Council, uh, utilizing my voice to advocate for meaningful youth engagement in the fight against malaria, particularly ensuring that their voices reach the high level. So I've also been sitting at the Global Fund Advocates Network as a speaker for representing youth voices in the fight against malaria, but also in uh ensuring that we have a contribution as a largest part of the population. We are over 60% of the population globally, I can say, but for Africa I'm sure we are over 65%, that we to ensure that our voices are heard in terms of ensuring that health systems are strengthened, are responding to key components of diversity, inclusion, and equity.
SPEAKER_01And Hamaya.
SPEAKER_02I would say similar to my colleagues, I started my journey in health policy and advocacy and research as a medical student. This led me to serve as the liaison officer to WHO for medical students for a year around 2022, 2023. And that was also around the time when I got lucky to work with some of the bright young minds that had been working with the WHO secretariat for two years to establish the WHO Youth Council, one of a kind advisory body inside the WHO. And right now, in this current moment, I've been serving as a vice chair of the WHO Youth Council and trying to be a part of the youth's efforts to sort of see the first rendition of WHO's efforts that make youth partnership a reality in the system.
SPEAKER_01I'm really impressed with all of these things you're involved with. So, Hamael, you mentioned WHO Youth Council. Can you tell us more how the council influences some of the technical work WHO does?
SPEAKER_02So, WHO Youth Council is, you could say, an advisory body that has been established inside the WHO's network. So the bunch of our work is mainly focused on giving advice to different technical work that WHO does and also the advocacy work that WHO does. We have established focal persons inside the Youth Council, which work together with these departments and contribute to different kinds of, you could say, avenues like consultations that happen or technical documents that go out from these departments or be part of WHO's delegations to external meetings like Conference of Parties for Climate Change or the International Parliamentarians meetings. Currently we have 22 youth-led groups that are part of the council. So as you can imagine, we have a wide range of health and non-health and policy and research and technical expertise in the council as a whole.
SPEAKER_01It's good to hear there are many opportunities for the Youth Council to engage with different areas of WHO. Alois, do you believe that voices of you and your colleagues have made a tangible impact on the work of the Africa Leaders Malaria Alliance? Maybe you could share some specific examples of successes you've experienced.
SPEAKER_04The African Leaders Malaria Alliance is a coalition of the heads of states, the 55 heads of state uh within the African Union, which was uh formed to champion for the fight against malaria. So as of 2021, ALMA had a component or prioritized youth engagement as key uh priority areas in its uh priority agenda. And this agenda was uh signed as a decision of the heads of state. That is one of the things I would say the youth voices are really heard and taken into consideration by the heads of state. So far, I would say to a large extent, my voice and the voice of the team I lead and the youth groups are really being heard, and we have uh managed to recruit and train over 3,000 young people across the continent who are interested to support the malaria agenda. But also, we have successfully launched uh formal youth groups on malaria and entities uh in 10 countries so far, and uh more countries are expressing interest. And whenever they speak, whenever they bring uh contributions to the table, there is high interest from the programs, malaria programs, NTD programs, but also heads of states are responding and supporting them. We have good examples from Congo, from Uganda. So, in my view, it's that yes, our voices are being heard, but uh there is a need for uh for further action uh to put more of our voices and ideas into action and uh to yield more impact in at community and uh global level.
SPEAKER_01We had an episode on malaria uh listeners if they want to go back, and it was clear that getting malaria out of the continent is not going to be that easy, and we need all different efforts and engagements at different levels. So, what you mentioned clearly is in that direction. Ines, when you and I first spoke, you said we don't need to be the leaders of the future. We are here now. So often the voices of young people are deferred to the future and not always meaningfully uh engaged with now at the moment. So, in your role that you mentioned as the vice president of the external affairs for the International Federation of Medical Students Associations, how do you think that the culture of big organizations can be shifted to really embrace young voices now, beyond sometimes maybe perceived tokenism?
SPEAKER_00Now my words are coming back to haunt me. No, but uh in a more serious uh tone, I really stand by what I said. I do believe, of course, we are the leaders of the future, right? In a few years, we will be leading our uh our countries, we will be the voices in global health, not just the yen voices. But right now, what I see is that we are many times viewed as people who can provide some input in solutions for future problems and not always uh about what's happening now. And I do believe that uh there needs to be a shift. I think a small shift can be to actually start participating and collaborating in capacity building and building resources together and not just uh you know showering us with different resources that there are not always adequate for the generation at hand. But also there are things that are already happening by some big organizations that I think are the key to youth engagement. Uh, for instance, I mentioned the network that I was part of the WHO European region, and also right now, the United Nations Youth Office actually has a similar idea, which is there are youth groups in each of these networks that are working together with the people behind them to build the strategy. So we are not only asked to, you know, oh, here is a problem, what are your inputs in solving this problem, but we are actually asked to build a strategy together. So I would say that's actually uh what needs to be done, and also just generalistically start valuing what we can bring to the table because a lot of us are actually researchers, we have a lot of background in several, several topics that are being discussed right now. So the mentality also needs to shift, not only to see us as youth voices and youth opinions, but also as fellow experts.
SPEAKER_01So you mentioned that that's a very good point you mentioned, Ines. So maybe a question to all three of you. So, what are the unique perspectives or experiences, technical experiences or expertise that young voices like yours offer in global health? Ines, maybe you can complete that and then we go around.
SPEAKER_00I think even the speakers that you have here today, uh, you look at us and we all have different backgrounds. We are from different regions of the world and we come from different communities. And I always think that's the most valuable thing about all of us. No one knows our communities like we do, no one knows our generation like we do. So it's always a different perspective that we bring to the table. We are perseverant, we are creative, we are ready and to discuss, to have out-of-the-box ideas to bring new perspectives to the table that you cannot get elsewhere. And I think uh a very relevant thing that we haven't spoken about today yet is that we live in the world where not only the future but also the present is digital. We live in a digital world. And who is better to navigate us in this digital world than us, our generation? We are digital natives. We need to help navigate this digital transformation of health and the digital transformation of the world. So I guess those would be uh three highlights that I would like to see for now.
SPEAKER_01Maybe Hamaya.
SPEAKER_02I would echo my colleagues here and say that youth are not a homogenous group. So every perspective matters. And making sure that you appreciate and acknowledge that every background is uh important in decision-making tables is I think the first change of perspective that we need. And oftentimes we see that because of budget constraints or because of time limitations, we often find ourselves in boxes which are restricted to just having a few voices. And I think when I look at what my background has given me in these spaces, I think it is exactly that. Acknowledging my background of working in the small town of Koida, Pakistan. And then now when I sit at these tables in Geneva or in Pakistan or in Boston, I realize that these normative approaches are just simply not cutting it. Uh, we need to have those positions or those positions and powers in our country to actually see the way that we have approached education, digital access, and also leadership uh skills that have been invested in and sort of do a perspective change and also investment change that has to happen to foster bright minds and also make sure that every voice is counted in in these high-level positions. All of these opinions and ideas need to be taken together, and we need to foster all backgrounds and all expertise to make a future that is for everyone.
SPEAKER_01What about you, Elois?
SPEAKER_04For me, it's indeed uh not any solution that is being offered to the community. It's uh not community-led unless youth have been involved and have been given a meaningful position to co-create uh that solution. So when it comes to perspective or professional uh contributions that young people are offering on the table, I look at uh, for instance, an example when uh we tried to run uh a malaria innovation uh say competition, and we received over 680 submissions from both uh Francophone and Anglophone Africa. And when you read all these uh insightful ideas that young people were presenting and uh examples of the things that they are doing at the community level, it's really massive. It's only that most of them have not been formalized to be documented as part of the contributions that they're making in their countries. And then when I look at the nature of uh youth-led events that are happening across the continent and globally, it's no longer just talk shows. It's young people presenting what they're already doing on the ground. You'll see abstract presentations, not not of abstract ideas, but of actionable things that they are doing on the ground as researchers, as innovators, as digital communicators. But again, when a when you can see a clear difference when you find youth-led organization or youth-led communication department, it's quietly different in terms of reach, uh, how many people are rich, the simplicity of the messages, uh, innovative approaches in terms of uh the messages they create on TikTok, video shows, even on YouTube. It's not just a way that it's really interesting and attractive for many people to engage. So there's a lot of contribution that is an expert contribution, that uh professional contribution that young people are bringing on the table. In Kenya, for instance, uh malaria youth uh champions have been utilizing conducting roadshows, and uh they reach more people with messages, more people with testing, more people with vaccines than any other traditional ways that have been used, such as moving door-to-door. And people just use simple things like plays, football. Even just this week, the launch of uh Malaria Youth Champions in Nigeria, they just brought together young people from different teams and they played football, and those massive spectators who are not only watching the football but also being educated on malaria and many other things that young people are really doing.
SPEAKER_01It's clear that youth are engaging with communities in innovative ways that are driving positive change. In your countries, have you observed any interest from your governments in actively engaging with and listening to young people?
SPEAKER_02I think for Pakistan, I can say that we have come a long way in youth engagement, but still in its infancy, and I think there's still a long way to go to actually see a formalized sector of youth engagement. We have seen that there is a bigger emphasis on the well-being of young people and adults and populations in terms of policies that have come out in the recent years, and I think that is promising. But at the same time, I think there is a lack of engagement of the said young people in the formulation of these policies. So I think it's mostly a fundamental issue that we do not have a formal way of approaching how do we consult young people in our governments? Do we have tools and platforms, for example, like digital platforms that take feedback from young people? One thing that I think is important to mention is Pakistan's National Youth Parliamentarians initiative that has been there for quite some time. And I think that is a good avenue for a lot of bright minds to get involved. And then also the youth delegate program, which is a very big opportunity for all governments to include young people in their permanent missions when they go to large meetings like the World Health Assembly in Geneva. Pakistan actually took one or two youth delegates this year to the World Health Assembly. And I think that shows a level of, I think, commitment and also uh opening a door to ensure that this is a sustainable investment that we can see for the years to come.
SPEAKER_01Interesting. So Pakistan also includes now youth delegate on the WHO delegations. What about Portugal, Inez?
SPEAKER_00I think my answer to your question is it really depends. Like in Pakistan, there are not really any formal mechanisms to actually ask youth what we have to say about uh several things regarding our country. However, if you are part of a youth organization, like a big youth organization, like our National Youth Council, or like our national uh medical students organization, and you are insistent, you don't take no for an answer, it is not impossible to actually schedule meetings with parties, with the government, with the ministries, and so on. And when we do manage to schedule them, we are listened to. So I guess this is the good side of it. And just to add up to what I mild has just said, uh, this past World of Assembly, IFMSA always has a delegation to the assembly, but we as a non-state actor have a reduced number of badges. So what we did is we tried to pair our delegates with their permanent missions, and we were actually extremely successful in doing this. So we had 10 informal youth delegates, 10 people who, in the weeks leading up to the World Health Assembly, actually managed to join their country's delegation and kind of kick start a youth delegate program in their countries.
SPEAKER_01What about Tanzania, Lois?
SPEAKER_04Uh similarly for Tanzania, there are really no very formal structures to communicate as we also don't have a national youth council. It's the same approach as Ines just mentioned, that it's just being pushing enough to what you want as a young person. And I've seen young people excelling through those strategies, including the National Uh Medical Students Association. They have really been engaging in a number of events, sending their delegations to different high-level events, including the discussion for the general five-year strategic plan, where they had even their president as an official speaker to that event. So it's all depends on how much the youth decides to raise the bar, but also how much integrated the programs are and are collaborative, like not trying to avoid uh duplications, not having like different or 10 groups of youth asking for the same thing, but rather combining efforts and pushing it together. Like this is our call to action. This is what we need, this is the support we need, this is what we are bringing on table.
SPEAKER_01I'm curious to know whether you would have any assessment or some kind of constructive suggestion for current global health directions and may have some things that you have observed in regards to key global health issues and you think they might be done differently, or you have any recommendations. So who wants to tackle that?
SPEAKER_02If I may, I would also like to say that fundamentally the way, or I could say historically, the way that youth has been engaged in global health has been mostly done towards the end processes of the decision making. So you would see youth being engaged for advocacy campaigns or towards making sure that their names are being added in technical documents or policy documents. But I think now we need to see young people as equal partners when we engage them in these processes. So instead of reaching out to young people to sort of support a campaign or give input to a campaign or an idea, we can instead include young people when these agendas are being set. So I think that is one constructive feedback I would like to share through this podcast.
SPEAKER_01Okay, great.
SPEAKER_04On my side, I would look at um my suggestion of feedback to the global leaders. One is there's been a lot of discussions, signing of declarations, commitments, launches of different programs. But at global level, there's really been a great response and visibility of what they are doing. But at community level, there's a Little to nothing that is being done. So it is very important whenever there's a global declaration or an agreement, there should be clear mechanisms, just as Ines mentioned, like having national health assemblies where the countries uh discuss and localize the global declarations to solutions that will really be helpful and impactful at community level. And furthermore, when it comes to youth engagement, I'll just uh add that engaging young people is not a threat uh to the positions of the global leader. It's rather a complementary strategy, but also a safety measure towards the future. Because we are talking of the long-term agendas, like in Africa, we have Agenda 2063. It's definitely these young people who are being prepared to leadership now who will really take a strong lead, who will also be accountable to things that are being put on place at this moment.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so and last one issue I wanted to bring up, it's more on the equity in young voices. It's clear that young people are engaged, but there are still a lot of gaps, and majority may still be from high-income countries. And of course, a couple of you are linked to the International Federation of Medical Students, which is medical students, and there are probably a huge gap when it comes to, I don't know, other health professionals, nurses, community health workers, etc. So, how can we be more equal and have some equity in how young voices are heard? Maybe we go backwards with Elois, Hayal, and then Ines.
SPEAKER_04So, in order to successfully have equity in terms of youth engagement, then the first thing is that it must be really intentional. That is, uh, the key leaders and uh youth leaders themselves should be really intentional to ensure that there is gender balance, but there's there's inclusion in terms of geographical representation and uh there is uh clear support. For instance, if you're planning a youth led, let's say it's an event or it's an implementation project, ensure that you have a budget to support youth coming from marginalized communities, from the most vulnerable groups, and not just uh telling young people that we are encouraging you to participate while there is no clear mechanism of on how they will participate. But also there should be local promotion of these opportunities because most of them are promoted through high-level platforms or social media where some of the youth who are the most affected might not have access to that. But also on gender issue that I think it's uh more pressing. For instance, I can say we have this a good example from our youth uh champions. We launched in 10 countries, but none of them had the top leadership having a female leader. But then we changed them all by ensuring that we specifically push the countries to ensure that at least they train a few young ladies to take over the leadership, but also encourage them, like approach them vigorously. Like, no, we need female leaders in these positions. Hopefully, by next week, we are going to have Namibia launching its first malaria youth go, and uh the top two leaders are both female, very vibrant, very active, and hope they will really deliver and inspire other women to take such opportunities once it reaches their countries.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Maybe Hamael and then Inez.
SPEAKER_02So I think fundamentally what I have seen many times is that there is a big disparity in how uh young people actually engage with these opportunities because oftentimes you would see them uh see that there's a call out for going to the delegation, uh joining a delegation of medical students or uh nurses or health workers to Geneva. And they would most often ask themselves, hey, we don't have the financial support. How will we navigate the visa process? And who will actually be there to support us to like sort of prepare for this meeting? And that is, I think, the first level of screening that many young people do, and that cuts out a big majority of voices from our spheres. And I think we can and we should invest in making sure that there's fellowships and scholarships available in which young people can actually take part in their capacity building in Gopa Health policy and diplomacy and research work, and then also making sure that there is an onus on all of the GOPA Health stakeholders to make sure that when there is a decision-making table to be had, we have young voices from all vocks and from all backgrounds through well-planned meetings and well-thought our logistics, so we don't leave anyone out.
SPEAKER_00Hamile, you really took a lot of my words out of my mouth. What I really wanted to focus on would be financial support and visa issues, that those are things that actually prevent a lot of youth from participating. If a big organization like WHO, like a UN entity, actually takes proactive in these issues, uh, a lot of issues, a lot of visas can be rewarded to young people that otherwise would not be able to travel to attend a conference or any other kind of events. So that would be my first and foremost step into going towards equity, inclusion, and diversity. And another thing that you said is the financial support. Most of us, if not all of us, actually do all of this voluntarily. We have our studies to pay for, or we are starting our first job. So actually going to a country that is very far away from our spain for flights and accommodation and food and everything is actually the something that is quite hard, and it's not possible for all of us to be able to support ourselves. A final little something that I want to mention, which is I think youth in general, we sometimes have some disbelief in big organizations. And why do I say this? Because I've even been through this recently. Sometimes we invest a lot, a lot of money, a lot of days to attend delegations, attend events, only to stay behind a glass window or to stay in an overflow room and watch the main event happen through a YouTube live streaming. And to do that, we could be doing it at home. So I think it's also about time to change that, to change this narrative. And actually, if you want to engage youth, we need to be there.
SPEAKER_01I'm inspired by your passion and confidence. What advice would you give to young people who are listening and wondering how they can find the courage to step forward and make their voices heard? Maybe all of you could share some examples you've experienced.
SPEAKER_04There is no reason uh to be worried or to be afraid of your potential. And uh, there are people out there who are really uh eager to know what you can bring on the table. And what you have is never too small to be presented. I remember when I started engaging in these global platforms, even my English wasn't that uh easily understood. Because I started learning English when I was 13. So I started engaging in these platforms where you have to express yourself in English. My English was poor, my grammar was poor, but still my confidence took me somewhere. I remember my first trip outside the country when I was going to learn about advocacy and health and uh health systems strengthening. When I just presented and I was really deep inside, I was really worried, but on my face I tried to be confident, like I know what I'm saying, and uh from there, people saw uh something and my passion in the fight against malaria and upground, and I'm serving as a technical lead now for a big organization in the continent, having to present before different private sectors, persuade them to give resources to the organization and countries, something which I wouldn't imagine when I was starting. So it's never too late to start. The best time it's now. You'll never be as young as you are at the moment. Yeah, don't never be afraid to start. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02It's very important for every young person to realize that um historically young people have been the biggest drivers of change and changing the status quo. So I think in a way that also humbles you into thinking that you might not be the one solution as a young person to this big problem. But if you are there working together with other young people from different parts of the world, having a shared, I can say, problem or a shared uh structural challenge that we're all facing, it creates a movement that becomes important for all the global stakeholders to pay attention to. And I think that in a way takes the spotlight of one person feeling the breadth of, uh, I would say, doubts and challenges and imposter syndrome that hangs in the back of back of the head of most of us. So I think it's very humbling when you work with other young people and realize that we are not very different from each other, and then also finding ways how we can build on that and create a community that is shaping the future for ourselves and for the coming generations.
SPEAKER_00I couldn't agree more with both Alois and Hamail. We have been catalysts of a lot of change, even not just historically, but now we we have seen a WHO Youth Council. We have actually, uh, as young people been uh precursors in some of WHO's resolutions. So change can be made if you make your voice heard. And I do believe there is the space for every one of us to speak our minds and to start movements. People perceive us as the future, and sometimes we do as well. Sometimes we are our biggest enemies thinking that, okay, yes, but now I'm 25, maybe I can contribute more in five years when I'm 30 and where I'm taking more seriously. But we are not just the future. We are the present, we are here now. So now is definitely the time to be loud and to start a movement, start a change.
SPEAKER_01I've truly enjoyed my conversation with these three dynamic young individuals who aren't just preparing for future leadership roles. They are already stepping into them today. Community engagement in health is critical, and Alois emphasized that involving youth is a key aspect of this effort. Enus urged countries to establish more formal mechanisms for youth engagement, such that unique experiences and creative perspectives of young people can enhance projects, proposals, and policies. Hamayal advised that intentional efforts and practical support are essential to ensure youth voices are included equitably.
SPEAKER_03Hi, my name is Matthew Carvalho, and I am currently a JD candidate at Georgetown University Law Center. And I'm an avid listener of the Global Health Matters podcast. As a student and a young learner myself, I appreciate the engaging and dynamic way that the podcast can take some of these larger, broader concepts that affect our daily lives and break them down in a way where we can really have a longer and more robust conversation across a variety of perspectives and a variety of speakers. I appreciate the nuance that the podcast brings to these different complex and sometimes difficult topics. And I really look forward to seeing what comes next.
SPEAKER_01Thanks for your message, Matthew. I wish you all the best with your studies. I know many of our episodes are used at universities and global health classes, so very happy to know about this as well. And I also know that many of our listeners are young professionals. They approach me at conferences and meetings and to say hi. So it's really great to know that our audience is really inclusive of youth around the world. To learn more about the topic discussed in this episode, visit the episode's webpage where you will find additional readings, show notes, and translations. Don't forget to get in touch with us via social media, email, or by sharing a voice message. And be sure to subscribe or follow us wherever you get your podcasts. Global Health Matters is produced by TDR, a United Nations co sponsored research program based at the World Health Organization. Thank you for listening.
