The 4th Global Youth Meet on Health carried out online for the first time.

The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly changed the way we do everyday activities such as communicating with people from across the globe. However, the HRIDAY organization and World Health Organization Regional Office for South-East Asia cooperatively overcame all the obstacles resulting from the current international situation and hosted the 4th Global Youth Meet on Health online.

The main theme of this year’s edition was Meaningful Youth Engagement for Leading Action on Universal Health Coverage and Sustainable Development Goals. On the 20th of April, almost seven hundred attendants were firstly encouraged to get acquainted with GYM’s programme and then were able to participate in one of the simultaneous workshops organized by such well-known institutions as UNICEF, the International Diabetes Federation, and the World Obesity Federation. I took part in the workshop conducted by UNICEF and entitled “Youth Advocacy Training”, during which I was given an opportunity to briefly present the fruits of the CO-CREATE Youth Declaration Task Force’s labour. As regards the declaration we adopted last November, you may click here to read the document.

After two plenary sessions concerning meaningful youth engagement and an Inaugural Ceremony on the 20th of April the following day was also full of intriguing, gripping, and thought-provoking meetings – ten parallel workshops, another plenary conference, and the Closing Ceremony (during which I and other youth representatives were asked to hold a dialogue with Ms Diah Saminarsih, Senior Advisor to WHO Director-General on Gender and Youth).

To sum up, the Global Youth Meet on Health once again has inspired hundreds of young activists like me not to give up despite the difficult, even crisis present world situation and act to make a change.

By: Zuzanna Burzynska, CO-CREATE Youth Taskforce Member, Poland