EuroHealthNet’s statement on a new WHO Child and Adolescent Health and Wellbeing Strategy

On 2 September 2024, the 74th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe hosted a side event addressing the critical health and wellbeing challenges faced by children and adolescents across the region. This event, organised jointly with UNICEF, served as the launchpad for the consultation process aimed at developing a new Child and Adolescent Health and Wellbeing Strategy for the European Region.

In a statement, EuroHealthNet welcomed the initiative and underlined the need for a comprehensive strategy to address the various current crises, including climate change, rising costs of living, and declining mental health.

EuroHealthNet underlined the importance of schools as an important place to promote children's physical and mental health, and introduced the work of the Schools4Health project to make every school a health-promoting school.

The statement offered three recommendations for the strategy:

1. Engage the whole school community through participatory processes and promote closer collaboration across all sectors.
2. The recommended actions to tackle the determinants of health should be complemented with guidance and measures that support implementation at local level
3. Monitoring and data collection is key to design and advocate for action to reduce child poverty. In doing so, we should better demonstrate the effectiveness of innovative policy frameworks and wellbeing-focused investments for young people’s health, and thereby further mobilise action.