Youth Health Initiave: Blog for your health!

Youth Health Initiave: Blog for your health!

The European Youth Forum is working closely with the European Commission again on the Youth Health Initiative. Since the success of this summer’s health conference that brought together 150 young delegates in Brussels, the initiative will now be kept alive by means of a blog. http://ec.europa.eu/health-eu/youth/index_en.htm The latter, which is moderated daily by the European Youth Forum will be the tool for bringing young people together from all over Europe to talk about their health.
Known as ‘Be healthy, be yourself’, the youth health initiative blog raises important public health issues in an attractive way. From sociology to simple tips on hygiene, the portal is an interactive way for young people to have their say on topical or forgotten health issues. As we all know, there is a huge social gap between people within member states, the EU and the whole world so the blog is a way to remind people of these shocking realities. Youth is a priority for the European Commission and they do wish to involve us more in EU health policies so by counting on the European Youth Forum to update this blog, they are taking a postive step forward. By doing so, the EU hopes to strengthen youth partnership in the decision making process, involve other sectors across EU policy areas and at national level on the implementation of prevention programs targeted at young people and support Member States activities on the health of young people.
Young people juggle studies, sport, part-time jobs, internships, relationships and socialising all at the same time. Due to low salaries or precarious job situations, it is often difficult to strike a healthy balance. For many, there is no time or money to invest in preparing a decent dinner. And for others, the financial crisis, education, social background play a huge role.
So, the blog is an attempt to cater for all. It is not a portal that aims to lecture on giving up smoking, the dangers of drinking or the amount of fat in take-away chips, but rather a meeting point to gather facts, learn about doing things in moderation and above all, learn to love our bodies. So, topics like lifestyle, physical acitivity and mental health will be explored through the blog as well as obesity, sexual health and chronic disease.
For the moment, the blog is made up of simple text and photos but over the next few months it will be getting a makeover. More interactive and innovative tools will be used on the blog so that youth opinion reaches out to as many as possible. Users will be able to send in their very own videos and photos and take part in some more hands-on debates and workshops over the coming year. To ensure this success, the blog does need a sigfinicantly high level of participation bringing about a daily, lifely, virtual debate. So, feel free to join in, raise topics or add comments by visiting the blog at the following link. http://ec.europa.eu/health-eu/youth/index_en.htm