This week, youth leaders gathered from across the globe at the International Youth Conference, as part of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly. Conversations centered around the need to move youth participation beyond symbolism, and integrate youth as essential partners in the policy-making process. While mental health and NDC prevention were central policy areas at the intersection of youth and health, one important component was missing: self-care.
Self-care has the potential to be transformative for young people’s health, especially those in marginalized groups such as young women and those in the LGBTQ+ community. By combating stigma and putting health directly into the hands of young people, self-care improves health equity and access.
Many of these same themes were discussed in our Self-Care, Gender and Youth Webinar, which explored how we can better center young people and women in the creation of self-care policies. Participants were first asked to identify the biggest barriers to advancing self-care in their individual country context, with many citing stigma and restrictive policies as the top barriers.
Keynote speaker and SRHR Liaison for the International Federation of Medical Students, David Martinez, reflected on his own experience as a youth advocate, medical doctor and member of the LGBTQ+ community. David highlighted the strengths of self-care as a transformative practice for women and youth, but also spoke on the lack of young people in policy-making spaces, and the lengths we still have to go to create truly inclusive self-care policies.
Next, Gloria Masula of Kenya’s Reproductive Health Network spoke on how self-care can create more gender-transformative health systems. She highlighted five country examples where integrating self-care into the health system led to improved outcomes for women and girls
- Kenya: Self-injectable contraceptives allowed women and girls greater bodily autonomy without having to face the stigma of traditional clinics
- South Africa: Increased availability of HIV self-testing kits by distributing them through pharmacies, community distribution programs and even vending machines
- Ethiopia: Self-care interventions are becoming part of community discourse programs on harmful gender practices, such as child marriage
- Malawi: Self-care included as part of task-shifting efforts, which allowed community health workers and youth peer educators to distribute DMPA-SC and HIV Self-tests
- Uganda: Communities have led digital efforts to increase menstrual education and distribution programs of menstrual products
Echoing the importance of community-led efforts, Lindokhule Sibiya, the Director of EcoClimate Vision Eswatini reflected on her own experiences as a survivor of NCDs and chronic illness. She emphasized the importance of community care and education as a vital aspect of self-care for NCDs. Additionally, she spoke about how digital advocacy can not only be transformative for policy outcomes but as an outlet for patients to share their own stories. Her perspective as a mental health advocate echoed many of the perspectives presented at this year’s International Youth Conference, centering self-care as essential to the treatment of NCDs and mental health conditions.
Finally, Gembo Sandrup of IPPF South Asia spoke on what it takes to create self-care policies that better support women and young people. Currently, restrictive policies limit the age of consent and lack gender recognition, limiting the availability of self-care commodities for youth and gender-diverse individuals. These restrictions then lead people to unsafe practices.
However, there are promising examples in Southeast Asia, including the introduction of home-based abortion services during the Covid-19 pandemic in Nepal. In Gembo’s own words, “this demonstrates that flexible, rights-based policies can protect people, and this can happen even during the time of a crisis.” Gembo also highlighted the expansion of HIV self-test kits by the Indian government. What began as a small pilot has now become an integral part of the health system for young people, allowing them to test privately and safely without discrimination and stigma. India’s example shows the transformative power of self-care when backed by government input and investment
So while we still have a long ways to go, gatherings like our Self-Care, Gender and Youth Webinar, and the International Youth Conference show us what’s possible when youth advocates come together for advocacy and shared learning.