Youth Engagement – How can young people be involved in the design of a health platform?  

Intro

Well, I think youth input is often missing in addressing the specific needs of youth in these digital health solutions.

What role should young people play in shaping the future of digital health?

So young people are the experts of their own experience, right? That’s the primary area that you really need their insights on, because sometimes you have digital health solutions being created and no young person has been consulted on its development. And you can’t create a solution for someone without asking them what they’d like to see.

So young people will help to create that vision of, one, identifying the problems, and then two, identifying what potential solutions would work for them and that they would actually utilize. And then three, allowing them to also help in the implementation.

But I think primarily their expertise is their experience as a young person in this modern world.

How well do digital platforms address the specific needs of young people?

Well, I think youth input is often missing in addressing the specific needs of youth in these digital health solutions. Young people are very concerned about issues like privacy, especially around their data. And they’re also very concerned about mental health and the impacts of all tech solutions on their mental health.

So I think right now we’re in a space where there are lots of opportunities now for young people to get more involved. And I think young people are seizing that as much as they can. But there’s always going to be room for more input and more co-creation with young people for these digital health platforms.

How can policymakers and healthcare providers support youth participation in digital health ecosystems?

So I would say that they can better assist young people in participating by first just listening and creating the opportunities for these kinds of conversations and discussions. And, you know, I think that the young person who is in rural Guatemala or is an indigenous person in Guatemala has a very different experience from someone who’s coming from the Caribbean or coming from Africa. And so we must have these different spaces where we look at the types of young people in all their diversities and ensuring that we are as inclusive as possible when creating these tables for young people to have a seat.

The second point I would say here is it’s important to put resourcing behind the conversations that we’re having. So, yes, we’ll speak and it’ll be a great time, fancy event. But what are the action items that come out of it? And what are the concrete commitments that are coming from policymakers or different organizations as they’re supporting youth inclusion here?

So it’s great to have the ideas, but we need the funding to implement it as well.