GPHW2024: Empowering Future Public Health Professionals: A Workshop on Professional Development

Theme: Fostering the Development of the Right Competencies within Tomorrow’s Health Workforce

Date and Time: 12th April 2024 | 14:00-15:30 (CET)

Event Description: The “Empowering Future Public Health Professionals” workshop aims to empower students and young professionals in the field of public health by providing them with opportunities to discuss, share opinions and experiences, and actively engage in their professional development, fostering a sense of individual and collective responsibility towards addressing global health challenges.

Organised by leading organizations of students and young professionals in the field, including the Young WFPHA Working Group, International Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation (IPSF), International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA), International Veterinary Students Association (IVSA), and the European Public Health Student and Alumni Association (EPHSA), the workshop addresses the evolving needs of public health professionals by involving students in shaping curriculum competencies.

The structure proposed for the workshop includes an introduction to set the context, through the involvement and engagement with expert keynotes to provide valuable insights into public health competencies and professional pathways.

Following, interactive activities, including Mentimeter mapping and breakout sessions, will allow participants to discuss challenges, desired competencies, and strategies for professionalization.

The discussions in the breakout rooms will serve to collect the ideas and proposals to draft a document, such as manifestos or calls to action, that will lay the groundwork for future initiatives, with a mid-long-term goal of informing and influencing prominent global health forums such as the World Health Assembly or the World Health Summit.

The workshop aims to foster collaboration and dialogue, contributing to building a dynamic public health workforce capable of addressing global health challenges.

Event Type: Workshop / Online Training

Event Format: online

Language(s): English

Organiser(s): Young WFPHA Working Group, International Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation (IPSF), International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA), International Veterinary Students Association (IVSA), and the European Public Health Student and Alumni Association (EPHSA)

How to Attend Virtually: Zoom Link (will be sent after registration)

Registration: Link

GPHW2024: Digital Health Citizenship: Advancing digital health and civic literacy through intergenerational dialogues

Theme: Enhancing and Democratizing Governance in Global Health

Date and Time: 9th April 2024 | 14:00-15:15 CET

Event Description: In the era of digital transformation, ensuring the health and well-being of young people requires strategic action. The Lancet and Financial Times Commission on Governing Health Futures 2030: Growing up in a digital world has outlined essential recommendations that stakeholders must heed to support the thriving health and well-being of the younger generation. To move the Commission’s recommendations into tangible action, the Digital Transformations for Health Lab (DTH-Lab) was established in 2023. The global consortium with hubs in Africa, Asia, and Europe is a multidisciplinary platform aiming to strengthen digital and data governance to improve young people’s health and well-being.

Enfranchising young people to co-design and critically engage with digital-first health systems is a core project of the DTH-Lab as part of efforts to increase public participation and digital health citizenship. By partnering with youth and youth organizations at the global, regional, and country levels, the DTH-Lab is launching an assessment of young people’s perception of digital health citizenship to support the co-creation of desired health outcomes, promote youth leadership and support a generation of informed and enfranchised digital health citizens.

Digital health citizenship emerges from the intersection of digital transformations, health, and citizenship. Recognizing that individuals have rights, responsibilities, and agency in the digital health landscape, digital health citizenship promotes active participation, informed decision-making, and ethical use of digital health technologies and platforms. To advance digital health citizenship, particularly among the youth population, improved capacity must be enacted particularly focusing on the unity of digital, health, and civic literacy.

This intergenerational dialogue aims to assess the current perception of digital health citizenship with a particular focus on garnering youth insights and their key asks in becoming more enfranchised digital health citizens. Discussants will share preliminary work on this topic including a current scoping study on digital health literacy tools from the Young World Federation of Public Health Association (YWFPHA) and the general landscape of current work on digital health citizenship. Moreover, the DTH-Lab will launch an online survey to support its broader work of co-designing and solution creation with young people in becoming enfranchised digital health citizens in the age of digital transformations.

DTH-Lab links:

Website|Twitter |Linkedin | Instagram| Twitter

YWFPHA links:  

LinkedIn| Instagram| Whatsapp| Telegram

Event Type: Seminar / Webinar

Event Format: online

Language(s): English

Organiser(s): Young World Federation of Public Health Association (YWFPHA)

How to Attend Virtually: Zoom Link (will be sent after registration)

Registration: Link

GPHW2024: Keeping it Reel: Disseminating Public Health Information in the Current Social Media Era

Theme: Rethinking Public Health Paradigms

Date and Time: 8th April 2024 | 14:00 – 15:00 (GMT)

Event Description: Over the past two decades, social media platforms have significantly changed how people consume information. In the past, a small number of professional bodies, organizations, and charities used to provide health advice through specified channels. However, this model no longer aligns with the methods and formats in which the general public, particularly the younger generation (Millennials to Gen Alpha), now interacts with and receives news. This communication gap has resulted in the spread of misguided, incorrect, and harmful health information, as evidenced during the global COVID-19 infodemic. Such misinformation has the potential to have real-world consequences for the public.

“Keeping it Reel: Disseminating Public Health Information in the Current Social Media Era” is an event organised by the Young World Federation of Public Health Associations (Young WPHA) for the 2024 Global Public Health Week. It aims to create a forum in which stakeholders can discuss the challenges and opportunities created by social media in the field of health communication. Young WFPHA wishes to explore the ever-changing landscape of social media, identify the skills public health professionals require to navigate this, and discuss how social media has affected the younger generation’s consumption and understanding of health information. This event would also like to offer solutions, collaboration opportunities, and grounds for hope in tackling this global challenge.

We will begin the event with an introduction to the topic and the speakers, who include social media influencers, public health communication experts, and representatives from social media platforms. This introduction will be followed by a panel discussion on the topic, concluding with a Q&A session. In the second part of the event, the Young WFPHA communication team will give a presentation on the launch of their new public health social media channel, which is aimed at addressing some of the issues discussed earlier.

Instagram Page

Event Type:Webinar format with Q&A chat

Event Format: online

Language(s): English

Organiser(s): Young WFPHA Working Group

How to Attend Virtually: Zoom Link (will be sent after registration)

Registration: Link

GPHW2024: Empowering Growth: Cultivating a Pan-African Network of Emerging Public Health Professionals

Theme: Enhancing and Democratizing Governance in Global Health

Date and Time: 9th April 2024 | 13:00-14:30 (CEST)

Event Description: The event will be a panel discussion with an interlude of Networking session during break-out sessions. The first two speakers will each be given a maximum of 10 minutes each to talk on the title of the event. The participants will then be given 20 minutes for networking and share their views on what the first two speakers highlighted. The last two speakers will also be given 10 minutes each to share their views about the title or theme of the event. This will be followed by a question and answer session that will last for at most 20 minutes.

Event Type: Panel Discussion

Event Format: Online

Language(s): English, Portuguese, Spanish

Organiser(s): Nuha Fofana and Alessandro Berionni

How to Attend Virtually: Zoom Link (will be sent after registration)

Registration: Link

GPHW2024: Addressing Public Health Challenges in the Eastern Mediterranean WHO Region a youth perspective Capacities for Infodemic Management

Theme: Rethinking Public Health Paradigms

Date and Time: 8th April 2024 | 10:00-11:00 (GMT+1)

Event Description: The Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR), encompassing 22 countries and territories in West Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and Central Asia, confronts a diverse array of public health challenges. This includes communicable and non-communicable diseases, environmental health concerns, healthcare infrastructure fortification, and emergency response preparedness. To highlight these multifaceted challenges, our panel event endeavors to cultivate a platform for the exchange of insights and collaboration among experts and stakeholders within youth from health organizations, in the EMR.

Content of the panel discussion:

1. Identification of Key Public Health Challenges: Through collaborative discourse, the panel seeks to pinpoint the most pressing public health issues prevalent in the EMR, considering the unique socio-economic and geopolitical factors at play.

2. Sharing of Insights and Best Practices: Participants will share their experiences and successful strategies in addressing public health challenges within the EMR, fostering a dynamic environment for cross-learning and knowledge dissemination.

3. Exploration of Innovative Solutions: Delving into the realm of innovation, the panel will explore novel approaches and solutions aimed at bolstering public health outcomes in the EMR, leveraging technological advancements, interdisciplinary collaborations, and community engagement.

4. Discussion of Collaborative Opportunities: Recognizing the significance of collective action, the panel will facilitate discussions on potential avenues for collaborative efforts and partnerships, with a focus on strengthening public health systems, promoting health equity, and building resilience against future health crises.

Outcome: The panel, composed of youth health actors from the EMR, hopes that the wealth of expertise and diverse perspectives shared during the event will not only enrich collective understanding but also contribute to the development of tangible ideas for advancing public health concerns in the EMR.

Event Type: Panel discussion & round table

Event Format: Online

Language(s): English

Organiser(s): Organizers from Young WFPHA: David Peyre-Costa, Duha Shellah, Lwando Maki, Alessandro Berionni

How to Attend Virtually: Zoom Link 

Registration: N/A