Inside the World Health Assembly with Edna

What Geneva taught me about youth voice, meaningful participation and shaping global health

Edna Adu
National Co-Director, Students for Global Health

Edna attended the Youth Pre-World Health Assembly and World Health Assembly in Geneva as part of her involvement in global health advocacy and meaningful youth participation. Read her reflections below.

Attending the World Health Assembly (WHA) and the Youth Pre-World Health Assembly (Pre-WHA) was an incredibly valuable experience that gave me a much deeper understanding of how global health policy is shaped, discussed and translated into action.

A space for young people to lead

The Youth Pre-WHA was particularly inspiring because it brought together young people from across the world who share a passion for improving health and tackling global health inequalities. It created a space where young people could share their experiences, challenge existing approaches and develop recommendations for decision-makers. Being surrounded by such a diverse group of passionate young advocates reminded me of the importance of ensuring that young people are active contributors to the decisions being made today.

Seeing global health governance in practice

Attending the WHA afterwards allowed me to see global health governance in practice. I had the opportunity to attend sessions, engage with discussions around key global health priorities and observe how governments, international organisations, civil society and other stakeholders come together to negotiate and influence health policy. One of the most valuable aspects was seeing just how complex and interconnected global health challenges are, and how achieving meaningful change requires collaboration across countries, sectors and communities.

Participation must be meaningful

The experience also encouraged me to think critically about the responsibility we have as global health advocates. It is not enough to simply have conversations about health inequalities; we must actively work to ensure that all voices are heard, particularly those who are most affected by the decisions being made. This means creating spaces where different experiences, perspectives and forms of knowledge are valued, and ensuring that participation is meaningful rather than tokenistic.

Through Students for Global Health, I have always understood the importance of advocacy and creating opportunities for students to engage with global health issues. However, being at the WHA demonstrated to me just how powerful youth voices can be when they are organised, informed and given meaningful opportunities to participate.

My biggest takeaway

“Global health is not something that happens somewhere else, it is something that we all have a role in shaping.”

Perhaps my biggest takeaway from the experience was that global health is not something that happens somewhere else, it is something that we all have a role in shaping. I left Geneva feeling inspired, but also with a greater sense of responsibility: to continue speaking up, to listen to voices different from my own, and to help create spaces where everyone has the opportunity to influence the future of global health.