2016-09-23

Hyogo-Kobe GLOBAL HEALTH High School Summit Declaration

On 21 August 2016, the WHO Kobe Centre and the G7 Kobe Health Ministers' Meeting Promotion Council organized the first Hyogo-Kobe GLOBAL HEALTH High School Summit, with support from Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.



At the Summit, about 400 participants discussed how high school students can contribute to global health through research presentations by six high schools, an expert panel discussion, and 54 poster presentations.



See the links of the video (right) of the entire event.

The Hyogo-Kobe Global Health High School declaration was developed and adopted by the high school students. And on 10 September 2016, the declaration was presented to the WHO Director General, Dr Margaret Chan, at a WHO-MHLW official side event to the G7 Health Ministers meeting that discussed “UHC, Innovation and Ageing: Research on innovations for achieving sustainable universal health coverage for ageing populations”.

Excerpt

"Today we, High School students in Kobe City and Hyogo Prefecture, have gathered to change the world. Globally, many health issues affect the health and welfare of all people, such as communicable diseases, inadequate nutrition, diarrheal diseases, maternal health, an aging society, and the need for self-care. To date, many experts, governments and international organizations have discussed and searched for solutions to many of the world's health issues. We, as High School students, can contribute by imagining and developing bold and creative solutions that transcend traditional ways of doing things. Also, as the very people that will face the consequence of these issues, we are driven by a sense of urgent concern to address issues seriously. We, as High School students, have undertaken various research projects to play our part in solving pressing global health problems. We look forward to sharing our findings and spreading awareness of the issues and solutions to people around the world, especially to young people our age.



In fact, there is something we can do right now as a first step. We can start with small actions like sharing what we learned today at this Forum with our family at the dinner table, or by sharing our new knowledge and experience with people around the world through social media. We can become more involved in our communities to solve issues within our own neighborhoods. Imagine if High School students around the world could do this at the same time! We believe that these efforts will be important in having a large influence on the health of people around the world. We cannot hope enough that High School students will leave this Forum today with a feeling of responsibility as the future generation, and with our small steps, inspire even more people to become involved in solving global health issues. We believe we have the potential to be leading innovators, to create breakthrough discoveries and actions, and we commit to do that".



End excerpt

WHO Kobe Centre/ K. Kuruma
 
 

Links to video sites