Youth Perspectives on Adolescent Programming in Canada: A Young Canadians Roundtable on Health Project
Prepared by Eni Rukaj
Project Dates: July 8–August 11, 2014
Background
The AstraZeneca Young Health Program (YHP) is a global, long-term community investment initiative that aims to improve the health of vulnerable young people around the world – now and into the future. Since its launch in 2010, the program has been implemented in 16 countries across the globe, each tailored to focus on the most pressing local health needs for young people.
Recognizing the international focus on preventing noncommunicable diseases (NCD’s), the program has recently targeted its global advocacy and research focus on addressing the awareness and prevention of risk factors that contribute to NCD’s. The program is grounded on the four shared risk factors that largely cause NCDs: tobacco use, alcohol abuse, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity1.
In simpler terms, the YHP’s goal is to holistically address the barriers youth face in growing up into healthy adults. If we focus on reducing these behaviours in youth, we can reduce their risk of developing serious, chronic conditions such as diabetes, cancer and asthma.
In Canada, the YHP was originally launched in 2011 with a focus on improving the mental and emotional well-being of disconnected and vulnerable youth ages 10–19. AstraZeneca Canada began exploring how to evolve the local program into the future as it was nearing the end of its first phase in 2014. We engaged a sub-group of The Young Canadians Roundtable on Health (YCRH), which is part of The Sandbox Project, to conduct an environmental scan and provide youth perspectives into the areas that were being explored for the future of the program. Members of this group of youth were: Stephanie Bertolo, Timothy Chung, Maggie Conway, Alyssa Frampton and Aliçia Raimundo. Eni Rukaj served as the AstraZeneca project manager.
The group was tasked with reviewing and evaluating Canadian organizations and programs in the adolescent health space, with a particular focus on organizations that address NCD prevention. As well, the group shared their opinion as youth on the major healthcare issues they see Canadian youth facing. The group collaborated online on this project from July 8th to August 11th, 2014.
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