The EU can no longer ignore young people in development of health policy: Oxford Health Alliance EU youth summit challenges policy-makers.
BRUSSELS – On 11 October 2006, at a senate-style event hosted by John Bowis, MEP, and the Oxford Health Alliance, young people will be given the opportunity to challenge the EU Parliament, Commission and Presidency on health policy. Bringing together nine young people from across Europe, as well as Mr Bowis, Erdem Erginel (the Cabinet member responsible for public health), Professor Suvi Virtanen (Finnish Public Health Institute) and Massimo Vergnano (president, Sudler & Hennessey Europe), OxHA intends to facilitate dialogue about the risk factors leading to chronic disease – smoking, poor diet and lack of physical activity – and highlight the need to include young people when formulating the policies affecting them.
The youth participants taking part in the event represent a number of organisations, including TakingITGlobal and the European Youth Parliament, and have an active interest in health issues. Anja Ostergren Nielsen, Youth Ambassador for Unite for Diabetes (the International Diabetes Federation campaign) says, 'For me, addressing the risk factors that lead to preventable chronic diseases should be our greatest health priority. It’s clear that to make the greatest amount of change, the EU needs to engage directly with young people like us, which is why this Youth Summit is such a great opportunity, as it allows us to present our case to health decision-makers.'
The outputs of the meeting will act as the foundation for the Oxford Health Alliance Youth Charter against chronic diseases, which will be developed by youth groups from around the world at next month’s OxHA Annual Summit to be held at Cape Town.
Tommy Hutchinson, youth director of OxHA, states, 'What I hope our summit will demonstrate is the value young people can bring to the decision-making process, and the need for EU politicians to involve them when developing policy, particularly around health issues.'
John Bowis, MEP, concludes, 'Unfortunately, the younger generations are often ignored by our political processes, but this needs to change. I felt it was very important to give them a voice today, and hope this dialogue can continue, especially as they represent the hope of a healthier Europe.'
ENDS
For more information or to request a briefing, please contact Marisa Pulaski on +44 7736 060152, marisa.pulaski@oxha.org
Notes to editors
Oxford Health Alliance
Founded in 2002, the Oxford Health Alliance encourages research into the risk factors (smoking, unhealthy diet, lack of exercise) leading to type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, pulmonary diseases and certain types of cancer, and advocates and facilitates action and collaboration to prevent these chronic diseases at a local, national and international level.
John Bowis, MEP
Since 1999, John Bowles, MEP has been Conservative MEP for London and has been Rapporteur for the Parliament on Food Safety, Health and Enlargement, Professional Qualifications, Health and Poverty Reduction in Developing Countries, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Patient Mobility, Major and Neglected Diseases in Developing Countries and Mental Health.
Erdem Erginel, Office of the Commissioner for Health
Member of the Cabinet responsible for public health: communicable diseases, bioterrorism, tobacco, obesity and nutrition.
Professor Suvi Virtanen
Professor Suvi M. Virtanen is especially interested in childhood nutrition and in the role of nutritional factors in the development of chronic childhood diseases: type 1 diabetes, allergic diseases and asthma. She teaches epidemiology at the University of Tampere, Finland. Professor Virtanen is responsible for nutrition in several large national and international studies on the aetiology of type 1 diabetes.
Massimo Vergnano, Sudler & Hennessey
Massimo Vergnano is president of Sudler & Hennessey Europe. S&H is one of the world's leading healthcare communications firms, developing strategic promotional and educational programmes for a broad array of healthcare brands.
TakingITGlobal
TakingITGlobal.org is an online community that connects youth to find inspiration, access information, get involved, and take action in their local and global communities. It is now the world's most popular online community for young people interested in making a difference, with hundreds of thousands of unique visitors each month.
The countries being represented at the summit are the United Kingdom, France, Denmark, Sweden, Greece, Ireland, Poland and Switzerland.