7.N. Workshop: Engaging the young stakeholders in planning for recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic
Authors:   Organised by: EUPHAnxt,   Chair persons: Sonia Saxena (EUPHA-CAPH), Gabrielle Mathews (UK)
Published: October 2021

Health in children and young people (CYP) has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Restrictions in mobility and social contacts limited children and young people in their social development and led to adverse psychological impact. Rising rates of poverty because of lockdowns have been shown to particularly impact families with children, which may exacerbate already existing health inequalities. Containment policies have decreased access to health services and decreased support for CYP from health and social care professionals during the pandemic, which have posed a significant threat to children and young people's physical health, mental and emotional health. To ensure that policies aimed at mitigating the impact of the pandemic on CYP are relevant, it is vital that the voices of CYP are heard. Article 12 of UNCRC establishes the right of a child to express their views in all matters affecting them and for those to be given appropriate consideration. This is a right that is largely not upheld in policymaking, and therefore it is important that the public health sector as advocates for children and young people (CYP) lead on this.

The aims of this skill building workshop are to:

Showcase positive examples of engagement of CYP in policymaking Gain knowledge on the practicalities to make engagement with CYP a mutually beneficial experience

Workshop Format

The session will be chaired by a young person to role-model the inclusion of CYP, this workshop advocates for. Professor Sonia Saxena, President of the EUPHA section on Child and Adolescent Public Health, will open the session with key points on the importance of engaging CYP in policy making during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. A further two presentations will be delivered by young people who will reflect on their own experience of engagement with policy/research and utilise the lessons learnt to improve CYP engagement in the future. This will be followed by a presentation by a paediatric doctor reflecting on their role in engaging with children and young people to develop a national healthcare patient experience guideline. This series of short presentations will be followed by an interactive case scenario on CYP engagement during the C-19 pandemic. The case study will aim to discuss some of the key practicalities to consider when engaging children and young people in policy making. The session will close with a short panel discussion with the presenters and consensus vote by attendees of next steps to take the learning from the workshop forward.

Workshop proceedings will be written up and submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Twitter hashtags will be devised to allow attendees to share work they embark upon within an online community. This community will also be fostered through meetings supported by EUPHA where members can share best practice and solutions to problems encountered.

Speakers/Panelists

Sonia Saxena Imperial College London, London, UK Rakhee Shah Imperial College, London, UK Gabrielle Mathews Imperial College London, London, UK Bea Albermann University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland Jinane Ghattas UCLouvain, Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, Belgium

Key messages

COVID19 will have a large impact on children and young people’s health. Engaging children and young people to co-produce policies that affect them, when planning for recovery from the pandemic is crucial in ensuring our policies and research are most impactful.