CONFERENCE

A survey conducted by the Generation Europe Foundation shows that 52% of respondents ignored that there were EU policies on youth health. When asked them how they could contribute to the decision-making process on health issues, 41% asked to be more directly involved with policy-makers and 40% suggested to improve all the communication channels. This is the reason why the European Commission, through the Conference “Be healthy, be yourself”, held in Bruxelles in July 2009, focused again its attention on issues concerning the protection and the improvement of youth lifestyles. The purpose was not only to identify the appropriate tools to safeguard their health and their well-being, but also and above all to involve them more closely in EU health policies, to strengthen youth participation in decision-making process, to involve other sectors within different political areas at EU and national level in the implementation of prevention programs targeted at young people and to support the efforts of Member States to promote youth health.
The aim of Community action in this area is twofold. First, to encourage and promote the development of actions and networks for gathering, providing and exchanging information in order to assess and develop policies, strategies and measures with the purpose of establishing effective interventions aimed at tackling the health determinants - such as personal behaviour and life-style, social factors that may prove to be an advantage or a disadvantage, living and working conditions, access to health services, general socioeconomic cultural and environmental conditions that affect the burden of diseases in our society and can significantly influence the population health by promoting it. Second, to promote and stimulate the efforts of Member States in this field, for example, by developing innovative projects which will stand as examples of effective practice.
The Youth Minister, Giorgia Meloni, intends, in cooperation with the Health Minister, the Education Minister, the Equal opportunities’ Minister, the Under-Secretary competent in the family policies, to pursue this aim and to renew the appointment to discuss youth health and well-being with young people.
Debating on policies for the promotion of younger generation health and exchanging good practices are always essential opportunities to be shared with Member States in order to identify priority actions on which work together and achieve, effectively, a comprehensive policy that positively affects the youth health conditions throughout Europe.
On the other hand, official data on the increase of eating disorders and the spread of sexually transmitted infections lead us to establish as a priority commitment planning interventions aimed at promoting effective and widespread information for phenomena prevention. Such interventions combined with sex, food and healthy lifestyle education, become real actions of a broader social action to avoid the risk that inappropriate behaviors play an important role in the destructuration of lives of many young people and of the future generations.
This implies a debating and exchanging activity aimed at identifying means and tools, languages and methodologies, modes of communication and appropriate areas for action to plan common policies.
The European Union has already developed specific actions in collaboration with young people. In partnership with the European Youth Forum, it has designed and launched the communication campaign "Help" for smoking prevention. Youth is also the target of different actions for health promotion initiated by members of the Platform for Action on Diet, physical activity and health.
At the above mentioned Conference “Be healthy, Be Yourself”, more than 200 young people between 18 and 25 years of age from all over Europe joined policy makers and health organizations to discuss essential issues such as alcohol, tobacco and drug use, physical activity and mental health.

Also on this occasion young people will play a leading role in the opening day of the Rome Conference. They will talk about training and exchange of best practice, showing us the right path to follow under the inspiring principle behind the European Youth Convention, which created the Forum to give younger generation the chance to contribute with their ideas to the construction of a European Union more conscious of the needs and demands of those who hold the future of Europe.