First European Conference on the Health and Well-Being of Young People

The first European Conference on the Health and Well-Being of Young People, organised by the European Commission and the Department of Youth Affairs of the Italian Council of Ministers, will be held in Rome, at the International University of Social Studies “Guido Carli” from 16 to 18 June 2010.
The event is supported by the Senate of the Italian Republic, the Chamber of Deputies and the President of the Italian Republic, a number of Italian public institutions involved in the management of the themes dealt with during the conference will participate, among them: the Ministries of Health, Education, Foreign Affairs, Equal Opportunities and Family. The conference will involve young people to discuss about their well-being and the promotion of healthy lifestyles. Prof. Aldo Morrone, Director General of the National Institute for Health, Migration and Poverty-NIHMP will participate in the session on “Health Education and Epidemiology of Sexually Transmitted Diseases”, organised by the Ministry of Health and the University of Rome “La Sapienza”.

About the Conference

From a study conducted by the Generation Europe Foundation, resulted that 52% of the interviewed people did not were informed about the EU health policies focused on young people; 41% required a more direct contact with policy makers and 40% suggested to improve communication channels for enhancing public contribution to health policy decision making. In this perspective, the Conference “Be Healthy, Be Yourself”, held in Brussels in July 2009, organised by the European Commission and focused on the protection and promotion of young people’s health, aimed at involving the youth in EU health policies, at fostering collaboration among different sectors at the European and national level and at supporting the initiatives of the Member States.
The European action in this sector has a double objective: on the one hand, to support information exchange for promoting effective interventions on health determinants, such as behaviours, lifestyle, social, life, labour, cultural and environmental conditions, access to health services. On the other hand, to foster initiatives of the Member States in this sector, for example by planning innovative projects proposing effective practices.
Giorgia Meloni, the Italian Minister of Youth Affairs, committed herself to carry on this action and repeat the appointment to discuss about the health and well-being of young people with young people.
To share experience and knowledge on the promotion of young people’s health among the Member States is necessary identify common priority objectives and organise effective actions aimed at enhancing the health of the youth across Europe.
Official statistics on the diffusion of unhealthy food habits and sexually transmitted diseases lead policy makers to give priority to prevention, information, sex and food education, promotion of healthy lifestyles aimed at protecting young people and the future generations.
The European Union has already developed specific actions in collaboration with young people. Together with the European Youth Forum, it organised the communication campaign “Help” for tabagism prevention and a number of activities focused on food habits, sport and health care.
More than 200 young people aged between 18 and 25 years participated in the above-mentioned conference “Be Healthy, Be Yourself”, where they met policy makers and health care organisations to discuss about fundamental themes such as alcohol and drug consume, smoking, sport and mental health.
The youth will be also protagonists of the Rome Conference, they will discuss about training and information sharing, giving their contribution as stated in the European Youth Convention, which poses at the centres the needs and requests of those people who will decide the future of Europe.