Adolescent Mental Health: Insights From UNICEF's State of the World's Children Report

Description

UNICEF's State of the World's Children 2021 report examines child, adolescent, and caregiver mental health. It focuses on risks and protective factors at critical moments in the life course and delves into the social determinants that shape mental health and well-being. This report calls for commitment, communication, and action as part of a comprehensive approach to promote good mental health for every child, protect vulnerable children, and care for children facing the greatest challenges. With this edition of The State of the World's Children, the first ever to focus on mental health, UNICEF is signaling a determination to listen – and to act.

Throughout the report there are the voices of young people that are based on focus groups held with young people around the world. To hear what they say, UNICEF turned to the Global Early Adolescent Study team to help facilitate focus groups. Altogether, 89 focus groups were held in 13 countries (Belgium, Chile, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Indonesia, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Malawi, Sweden, Switzerland, and the U.S.).

This event, hosted by UNICEF and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, will discuss the following:

• Key messages from the State of the World's Children 2021 report
• Present findings from the voices of youth (qualitative research)
• Highlight the goals needed to achieve UNICEF's recommendations
• Hear youth advocates share their perspectives and experiences

Speakers:

• Joanna Lai (DrPH '17), Adolescent Health Specialist, Health Section, UNICEF HQ
• Robert Wm. Blum, Principal Investigator, Global Early Adolescent Study (GEAS), and Professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
• Matilde Maddaleno, Chief of Public Health of the Faculty of Medical Sciences and Professor, University of Santiago
• Abigail Harrison, Lecturer at University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica
• Rodrigo Rojas, Global Youth Advisory Board (GEAS Chile)
• Dannyelle-Jordan Bailey, Youth Advocate (GEAS Jamaica)

This webinar complements the release of the State of the World's Children report. By registering for this event, you will receive the video of this webinar along with the report in after-event communications.