Healthy Caribbean Youth launch series about matters affecting children and youth

Healthy Caribbean Youth, the youth arm of the Healthy Caribbean Coalition, will be presenting a series of articles over the next four months, which see regional young voices discussing the health and well-being of children and youth.

According to Kerrie Barker who spoke on the behalf of Healthy Caribbean Youth, the series of articles entitled “The Future Talks: A future for our Caribbean’s children?” will place great focus on non-communicable diseases and their determinants, in the context of how they affect young people.

“An increasingly warming globe? A global pandemic? Violence and bullying? Today’s children and youth are definitely going through it. Yes, every generation surely has had its own challenges, but one cannot deny the massive burden on our young people today,” Barker commented.

She pointed out that the Honourable Mia Amor Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, recently echoed this sentiment, stating that “Our children locally and globally are the ones who have had to make perhaps the biggest long-term adjustments”, when speaking of life since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. She further noted that the pandemic comes alongside and has even exacerbated the multitude of other issues affecting youth today, such as climate change, violence and mental health challenges.

“It should be noted, however, that our region’s young people are not sitting idly by, but are in fact, standing up and letting their voices be heard about these various issues that affect them. From organisations such as the Caribbean Regional Youth Council, to 12-year-old Barbadian climate activist Maria Marshall, Caribbean youth are at the forefront of regional and global advocacy and activism,” Barker asserted.

Noting that Healthy Caribbean Youth is a diverse, trans-regional group of young enterprising health advocates passionate about promoting good health and supportive environments for children and youth like themselves, Barker indicated that the inspiration from this series to be hosted by the group, draws from a 2020 global report entitled, “A Future for the World’s Children?” by the World Health Organization (WHO)-UNICEF-Lancet Commission, made up of leading global child experts.

Thus, in a similar vein to the WHO-UNICEF-Lancet report, The Future Talks: A Future for our Caribbean’s children? aims to call attention to issues threatening optimal health and well-being of the region’s young people and to place the health, well-being and ideals of regional children and youth at the centre of the Sustainable Development Goals and other local, regional and global development agendas. It will particularly emphasise the need for meaningful participation of young people in making these agendas a reality through whole-of-society action.

“We, the members of Healthy Caribbean Youth invite you over the next four months to read our thoughts and suggestions on these concerns via The Future Talks series on the Healthy Caribbean Coalition website and media channels, as well as digital and print media across the region. The series will explore topics such as climate change, mental health and food systems, centring Caribbean youth, youth like us, in the discussions,” Barker stated. (RSM)