children

19
Mar
2026
24 – 26 September 2026 : STRONGER TOGETHER – For Better Health among Children, Adolescents and Young Adults

24 – 26 September 2026 : STRONGER TOGETHER – For Better Health among Children, Adolescents and Young Adults

The Joint International Paediatric, School and Adolescent Medicine and Health Congress “STRONGER TOGETHER – For Better Health among Children, Adolescents and Young Adults” will be held from 24 – 26 September 2026 in Portorož, Slovenia. This event will bring together experts from across Europe who are dedicated to supporting young people in their transition from childhood to adulthood.

This congress is being organized collaboratively by four leading associations in the fields of pediatric, school, and adolescent health:

  • ZZP (Slovenian Paediatric Association of the Slovenian Medical Association)
  • EUSUHM (European Union for School and University Health and Medicine)
  • IAAH (International Association for Adolescent Health)
  • SSSAM (Slovenian Association for School, Student and Adolescent Medicine of the Slovenian Medical Association)

Scientific program

The scientific program will address current issues in physical and mental health, prevention, health promotion, and the social determinants affecting youth development.

The congress will also provide an excellent opportunity for networking, sharing experiences, and strengthening interdisciplinary collaboration among professionals from diverse backgrounds.

Topics related to pediatrics, school, adolescent and student medicine and health

  • Preventive Medicine:
    screening programs, health education, public health campaigns, preventive health examinations, health promotion, vaccination, risk factors, environmental impacts on health
  • Sports Medicine:
    healthy athletic development, health risks for athletes, injury prevention, monitoring of physical performance, sports nutrition, rest and recovery
  • Chronic Diseases:
    challenges and support programs in the management of chronic patients, transition of care, modern approaches and therapies, monitoring of chronic patients
  • Sexual Health:
    education for healthy sexuality, contraception, sexual identity, sexually transmitted diseases
  • Emergency Medicine:
    2025 resuscitation guidelines
  • Mental Health:
    mental health care, recognition of mental health problems, support services, sources of help
  • Open Topics:
    development of school, student, and adolescent health care, health system policies, health-related behaviors in adolescents, other relevant topics

Abstract submission and more information

Abstract submission is open until 31 March 2026.

For more information visit the conference website.

Posted by Didier in News
02
Oct
2025
International Round Table Explores Global Perspectives on Good Healthy Schools

International Round Table Explores Global Perspectives on Good Healthy Schools

On 9 April 2025, the Good Healthy Schools Initiative (GHSI) convened its first international Round Table, bringing together experts from across Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America to discuss how health can be systematically embedded into education systems. The online event, organized by Leuphana University of Lüneburg and funded by the German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV), marked a pivotal step in the Initiative’s ambition to promote “Good Healthy Schools” through international dialogue and cooperation.

Linking education and health

Moderated by Goof Buijs, manager of the UNESCO Chair Global Health & Education, the Round Table opened with a keynote by Prof. Dr. Peter Paulus, Director of the Center for Applied Health Sciences at Leuphana University and Head of the GHSI project. Paulus outlined the German model of the Good Healthy School and highlighted the strategic importance of linking education and health as mutually reinforcing dimensions of school development. His remarks set the stage for the international perspectives that followed.

Contributions came from representatives in Botswana, Hong Kong, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, and the United States, as well as from UNESCO’s Sections of Education Policy and Health and Education. The presentations highlighted innovative strategies ranging from UNESCO’s Happy Schools framework and the Icelandic Prevention Model to regional school health programs in Andalusia and cross-sectoral partnerships in Africa.

Health as a core dimension of educational quality

A recurring theme throughout the Round Table was the need to move beyond isolated initiatives and instead pursue systemic, policy-anchored approaches that view health as a core dimension of educational quality. Participants emphasized that sustainable progress requires intersectoral collaboration, cultural sensitivity, and above all, meaningful participation of children and young people. As Buijs stressed: “Don’t talk about them – talk with them.”

Breakout sessions provided space for in-depth dialogue on embedding health into school quality frameworks, financing strategies, and innovative partnerships. Across all contexts, participants highlighted funding challenges but also underlined the opportunities of global networks such as UNESCO, European Network Education and Training in Occupational Safety and Health (ENETOSH), and World Health Organisation (WHO) in creating shared platforms for learning and advocacy.

Call for international collaboration

The event concluded with a clear call for stronger international collaboration and the development of long-term alliances.

Feedback from participants confirmed the event’s value as a unique forum for exchange and co-creation. Preparations are already underway for a second international Round Table in December 2025, with even broader participation from UNESCO partners and organizations such as WHO, European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE), and European Federation of Education Employers (EFEE).

The Round Table demonstrated the growing momentum of the Good Healthy Schools Initiative and reaffirmed the global relevance of embedding health and well-being at the heart of education systems.

Posted by Didier in News
18
Sep
2025
Research shows multiple impacts of COVID-19 school closures on adolescents

Research shows multiple impacts of COVID-19 school closures on adolescents

Source: University of Huddersfield

Research into the multiple impacts of COVID-19 school closures on adolescent well-being has been published in a key journal. The international study was led by the UNESCO Chair Global Health & Education. Co-chair holder and University of Huddersfield academic, Dr Nicola Gray, who is renowned for her work on adolescent health, is the lead author of the study now published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Entitled Multiple Impacts on Adolescent Well-Being During COVID-19 School Closures: Insights From Professionals for Future Policy Using a Conceptual Framework, the research included notable academics in the field of adolescent health, including UNESCO Chair Global Health & Education co-chair holder Professor Didier Jourdan.

A consortium of partners composed of various research teams had input into the survey with data drawn from 60 interviews conducted in six languages with education and health professionals across 28 countries during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic amid school closures and re-openings in 2021.

Multiple impacts found

It found multiple, intersecting impacts of the pandemic on adolescent well-being and the potential for widening inequalities, making a case for caution regarding school closures in future health crises.

School closures were found to have impacted all five UN H6+ domains of adolescent well-being, which comprise good health and nutrition; connectedness; safety; learning; and agency/resilience.

The professionals reported that closures also widened inequalities for certain groups of students, disproportionately impacting the most vulnerable.

The study concluded that education policies need to see schools as infrastructure that supports multiple aspects of adolescent well-being, not just as a teaching-learning system.

In addition, the authors asserted that during recovery from a pandemic, holistic strategies related to adolescent well-being, not just a focus on educational catch-up, are needed to mitigate the long-term consequences of any closures.

More than a place to learn

Dr Gray, Reader in Medicines and Health at the University of Huddersfield, commented:

“Schools are more than a place to learn. They provide welfare and connection for many students, as well as the means to a bright future. Policymakers must recognise multiple impacts of school closures on adolescent well-being and the potential for widening inequalities. The decision to close schools in any future crisis must be balanced against the damage it could do to young lives.”

On the back of the study, Dr Gray was asked by the World Health Organisation Regional Office for Europe to develop a factsheet detailing the impact of COVID-19 on education in the region, which she presented in June at a WHO/UNICEF webinar.

Dr Gray is also working on another paper on the same topic, to be published in a special issue of Public Health in Practice in the autumn. The paper was facilitated by WHO/Europe to support the development of a new WHO/UNICEF strategy on child and adolescent well-being for Europe and Central Asia. She will speak about this research at a webinar hosted by The Royal Society for Public Health on 22 October. The webinar is titled School is more than a place to learn: An intersectoral assessment of adolescent well-being prior to and after the COVID-19 pandemic in the WHO European Region.

Posted by Didier in News
15
Sep
2025
Webinar 28 October 2025 – Health promotion in the education sector

Webinar 28 October 2025 – Health promotion in the education sector

Time: 8.00 – 9.30 Mexico, 9.00 – 10.30 Colombia, 10.00 – 11.30 Puerto Rico, 11.00 – 12.30 Brazil, 15.00 – 16.30 France

Language: The webinar will be held in Spanish and Portuguese. Translation will be available in 50+ languages, including English, French, Portuguese and Spanish. We will use a translation app based on AI.

Registration: Register here. Registration is free. The link to the webinar will be sent to you after registration.

Información en español, Informações em português

Speakers

Moderator

Prof. Dr. Fernando Peñaranda Correa. He is a doctor, holds a master’s degree in public health, a master’s degree in education and social development, and a doctorate in social sciences, childhood and youth. He is a full professor and senior researcher in the Health and Society Research Group at the National School of Public Health at the University of Antioquia. He is the coordinator of the health education emphasis in the Master’s in Public Health programme. He has taught undergraduate and postgraduate programmes at the Faculty and other universities in the country on the following topics: epistemology, qualitative research, ethics and social justice, public health, health promotion, and health education. He has written numerous articles, book chapters, and books in the areas of health education, qualitative research, ethics, public health, and social justice.

Bibiana E. Castro Franco. Psychologist, specialising in social psychology, Master’s degree in Public Health and Doctorate in Human Sciences. Lecturer at the University of Cauca. Department of Education and Pedagogy. Researcher with the Popular and Community Education Group. Member of the Colombian Network for Health Education. CLACSO Working Group on International Health and Health Sovereignty.

Kátia Souto, National Coordinator of the School Health Programme, Ministry of Health, Brazil

Goof Buijs. Manager of the UNESCO Chair Global Health & Education. After finishing his Master study in Human Nutrition his first job was teaching health science at the Amsterdam teacher trainer institute. Next he moved into the field of health promotion, as health promotion officer in Amsterdam. At the Netherlands Institute for Health Promotion NIGZ he specialized in school health promotion, first on the Dutch level to introduce the national health promoting school programme and leading several European projects. In 2007 he became the manager of the Schools for Health (SHE) network until 2017. In 2018, with prof Didier Jourdan, he set up the UNESCO Chair Global Health & Education, also the WHO Collaborating Centre. His specialisation is bringing health and education sectors together. He is an experienced networker, expert in co-creation, trainer, and organizer of local and global events. He supports cooperation among people, focusing on everyone’s talents and uniqueness. He is an environmental activist for most of his life.

Summary

During this webinar the speakers will analyse experiences with health promotion in the education sector in various countries to identify achievements, challenges and opportunities. Each speaker will share their respective experiences, identifying the progress, strengths, difficulties and challenges involved in coordinating the education and health sectors to promote health promotion and health education in schools. This will be followed by time for attendees to ask questions and make comments on the presentations given by the speakers.

Latin American Network for the Revitalisation of Health Education

This webinar is a part of the “Latin American Network for the Revitalisation of Health Education”. This initiative is being promoted with the participation of the UNESCO Chair on Global Health and Education, the Inter-American Consortium of Universities and Training Centers for Health Education and Health Promotion (CIUEPS), the Brazilian Network of Popular Health Education, the Colombian Network of Health Education and the Regional Office for Latin America of the International Union of Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE/ORLA), with the following objectives:

  • Promote health education at national and international levels, as a fundamental dimension of the health disciplines, the educational sciences and the social and human sciences.
  • To recuperate the Latin American production and position it in the regional level, which implies promoting its critical and decolonial approaches. A health education that advocates for social transformation towards a more just and equitable society that guarantees well-being and a life with dignity.
  • Promote the articulation of the education and health sectors to strengthen the actions of each of these sectors to promote health education, by recognizing education and health as two inalienable, synergistic and interdependent human rights.
  • Strengthen the theoretical, political and ethical foundations of health education as a requirement for a responsible, productive and ethical pedagogical practice.
  • To generate a setting for the articulation of academia and civil society that allows Latin American integration in order to share experiences, knowledge and aspirations framed in a collective purpose.
  • To promote national and international integration with respect to health education as a means for mutual learning and solidarity, and to facilitate cooperative actions in the development of academic-scientific events, research and training processes.

The webinars, open to all interested stakeholders, are a component of the program. They are experiential sessions, lasting 60-90 minutes, with guest speakers who present their reflections on two or three problematic questions to encourage audience participation. Five webinars have been scheduled for this first stage of the program, with an interval of 2 months between each one.

Watch the recordings of previous webinars:

Posted by Didier in News
04
Jun
2025
Webinar series: Future proofing child and adolescent health in Europe and Central Asia

Webinar series: Future proofing child and adolescent health in Europe and Central Asia

Join the first webinar in a new series on future-proofing child and adolescent health in Europe and Central Asia.

This three-part series supports the development of the upcoming Regional Strategy on Child and Adolescent Health and Well-being (2026–2030), led by WHO and UNICEF Europe and Central Asia, and grounded in the latest data and evidence.

Webinar 1: Key Findings from WHO/UNICEF Fact Sheets

📅 Date: 17 June 2025
🕙 Time: 10:00–11:30 CET

💻 Platform: Zoom (registration required)

Languages: The webinar will be presented in English with simultaneous interpretation in Russian. Other languages may be added based on interest and country support.

Why attend?

Across the region, young children and adolescents face increasingly complex challenges: stagnating newborn survival rates, declining immunization coverage, rising rates of overweight and obesity, and setbacks in access to essential services. These trends—worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and socio-economic inequalities—underscore the need for renewed, coordinated action.

This webinar will:

  • Present key findings from new WHO/UNICEF fact sheets on child and adolescent health
  • Explore implications for early childhood health systems, services, and policies
  • Open a regional dialogue to inform the forthcoming strategy

Topics will include:

Child and adolescent mortality, immunization gaps, breastfeeding, early childhood development, overweight and obesity, digital environments, adolescent mental health, providing health services to children and adolescents, sexual and reproductive health, and the impact of COVID-19 on education and services.

Guided by five core principles—early investment, duty of care, protection from commercial harm, multisectoral governance, and accountability—this webinar sets the stage for a strategic, evidence-informed response across the region.

Stay tuned for more information about the speakers and upcoming webinars in the series.

This webinar is organised by UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia (ECARO), WHO Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe), and the International Step by Step Association (ISSA) under the auspices of the Health Systems for Early Childhood Development initiative.

Stay engaged! Subscribe to the mailing list: https://issa.us8.list-manage.com/subscribe?

Posted by Didier in News
19
May
2025
Why Schools Should Prioritise Health: Expert Voices from the Schools4Health Initiative

Why Schools Should Prioritise Health: Expert Voices from the Schools4Health Initiative

What makes the Health Promoting School (HPS) approach so essential today? Why should both policymakers and schools invest in it—and how does it help promote core European values like participation, equity, and inclusion? As part of the Schools4Health initiative, partners sat down with leading experts in education and public health to explore these questions and more, delving into what it takes to successfully implement the HPS approach and how projects like Schools4Health can support broader efforts led by organisations such as the WHO.

These are some of the questions the Schools4Health initiative is exploring as part of its mission to embed the Health Promoting School (HPS) approach into education systems across Europe. As part of this effort, partners recently invited two leading experts in education and public health to share their views on why now is the time to integrate health into the very fabric of school life.

From mental wellbeing and physical activity to healthy nutrition, health affects every aspect of a young person’s ability to learn and thrive. And yet, despite mounting evidence, many school systems continue to treat health as an add-on rather than a core condition for learning and development.

In a series of exclusive interviews recorded at the Schools4Health consortium meeting, advisory board members Professor Peter Paulus (Leuphana University Lüneburg) and Trinette Lee (WHO) reflect on the urgent need to rethink how we structure education and how a shift to the HPS model can lead to better outcomes not just for students and teachers, but for society.

The interviews kick off a new video series exploring the role of health in education through the eyes of those shaping policy and practice at the highest level.

Curious about their insights? Watch the first video on our LinkedIn page and follow Schools4Health on LinkedIn to explore the series to learn how schools can become healthier, more inclusive places to grow and learn.

For more insights on the HPS approach, discover the new Schools4Health policy brief, Why Invest in Health Promoting Schools, which outlines why it is a crucial and cost-effective strategy to create healthier learning environments.

Learn more at www.schools4health.eu

Posted by Didier in News
04
Mar
2025
Schools4Health Education and Health Partners Strengthen Commitment to Health-Promoting Schools Across Europe

Schools4Health Education and Health Partners Strengthen Commitment to Health-Promoting Schools Across Europe

How can schools, policymakers, and communities work together to make every school a Health-Promoting School? This was the central question at the recent Schools4Health consortium meeting, where partners explored ways to ensure the long-term impact of the project.

Discussions focused on:
✔️ Strengthening collaboration between health and education sectors to embed health promotion in school policies and practices
✔️ Scaling up successful pilot initiatives that improve student well-being through nutrition, physical activity, and mental health support as an entry point to implementing the health-promoting school approach
✔️ Ensuring the sustainability of the Health Promoting Schools approach beyond the project’s duration

Over the coming months, Schools4Health will continue working with partners across Europe to turn these discussions into action, helping schools create environments where students can thrive.

Read the latest update with the press release about the meeting.

Posted by Didier in News
31
Oct
2023
Webinar – Violence and bullying prevention in school, 6 November 2023

Webinar – Violence and bullying prevention in school, 6 November 2023

Violence and bullying in schools deprive millions of children and adolescents of their fundamental right to education. A recent UNESCO report revealed that more than 30% of the world’s students have been victims of bullying, with devastating, immediate, mid- and long-term consequences on academic achievement, school dropout, and physical and mental health. Exposure to the risks of violence and bullying has increased for many learners where education systems are not fully prepared for the increased use of digital technology in teaching and learning, as highlighted by the 2023 Global Education Monitoring Report. Violence and bullying is often perpetrated as a result of gender norms and stereotypes.

Though some may think it is inevitable, in fact, it is preventable and its harm can be reduced. There are effective approaches to prevent, reduce and respond to violence and bullying and educators, learners, parents and other actors have important role to play in it.

Speakers from the World Anti-Bullying Forum, UNESCO Chair for Global Health and Education, Global Education Monitoring Report Team, UNESCO Health and Education Section and UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education will address the following questions during the webinar:

  1. Are violence and bullying just part of growing up? How they affect children and adolescents, their mental health and why gender matters?   
  2. Is it possible to end violence and bullying in school? If yes, what makes prevention and response to bullying effective? 
  3. How education systems can protect learners from the adverse consequences of technology use, specifically online violence including cyberbullying and mental health issues?
  4. What can decision/policy makers, educators and learners do to prevent and decrease bullying, in particular, in the context of increasing use of digital technology in education? 
  5. What practical tools are there for educators and other stakeholders to effectively address violence and bullying in school?

Speakers are:

  • Ms. Frida Warg, Managing Director, World Anti-Bullying Forum, Sweden
  • Ms. Nicola Gray, Co-chair holder, UNESCO Chair on Global Health and Education, Senior Lecturer, University of Huddersfield, UK
  • Mr. Manos Antoninis, Director of the UNESCO Global Education Monitoring (GEM) report
  • Mr. Yong Feng Liu, Project Officer, UNESCO Health and Education Section
  • Mr. Tigran Yepoyan, UNESCO Health Education Advisor for Eastern Europe and Central Asia

The webinar is moderated by Goof Buijs, Chair manager, UNESCO Chair on Global Health & Education.

The webinar will take place on 6 November 2023 from 14.00 – 15.30 CET in English.

Register for the webinar today. This webinar will also be broadcasted live on the UNESCO Chair Global Health & Education YouTube Channel.

More information

Posted by Didier in News
22
Nov
2022
Webinar: Improving inclusion of children living with a rare disease through curriculum transformation – 28 November 2022

Webinar: Improving inclusion of children living with a rare disease through curriculum transformation – 28 November 2022

UNESCO-IBE is organising a webinar on “Improving inclusion of children living with a rare disease through curriculum transformation”, co-organised with the Agrenska Foundation and Rare Diseases International and taking place on 28 November 2022 2:00-4:00 PM – Geneva time – (UTC+1).

Panelists:

  • Yao Ydo – Director, UNESCO-IBE
  • Anders Olauson – Founder and Chairman of Agrenska Foundation 
  • Flaminia Macchia – Executive Director of Rare Diseases International (RDI)  
  • Florence Migeon – UNESCO, Programme Specialist, Inclusive Education Expert
  • Gunilla Jaeger – Senior Advisor Agrenska Foundation
  • Carlos David Peña Aragon - Head of Social Networks, Federación Mexicana de Enfermedades Raras (FEMEXER), lives Gaucher disease (Mexico)  
  • Eda Selebatso - Founder of Botswana Organization For Rare Diseases (BORDIS) – Mother of two children living with different rare diseases (Botswana)  
  • Mark Rogers - Parent of a young adult living with DiGeorge Syndrome (New Zealand)
  • Nikita Van Dijk - University student and patient advocate living with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (New Zealand)  
  • Robin Yoon - M.D. Candidate, Georgetown University School of Medicine (USA)  
  • Sook Yee Yap and Jaden Lim - We Care, Journey – mother and son, Jaden lives with Growth Hormone Deficiency and Pituitary Microadenoma (15), and his brother lives with SMA Type One (Malaysia)  

To attend the webinar, register here.

Posted by Didier in News
04
Apr
2022
UN Transforming Education Summit September 2022

UN Transforming Education Summit September 2022

On the International Day of Education, the UN Secretary-General’s office announced the Transforming Education Summit and encouraged everyone to unite in making education a common good and a top political priority.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to an unprecedented educational crisis, interrupting the schooling of 1.6 billion students at the height of the crisis. Even today, the schooling of nearly 31 million students remains disrupted by school closures. As António Guterres, Unites Nations Secretary-General, points out, the proportion of children in developing countries who leave school unable to read could rise from 53% to 70% if we do not act.

Beyond the issues of access and inequality, education faces major challenges: technical innovation, dramatic changes in the world of work, the reality of the climate emergency and a general loss of trust between people and institutions. There is a need to place education at the heart of efforts to transform the economy and society towards sustainable development. This also means launching a reflection on how education systems can evolve to accompany and support this transformation of societies by 2030. 

This is the objective of the Education Transformation Summit to be held in New York in September 2022 during the 77th Assembly of the United Nations. Recognising that education is a foundation for peace, tolerance, human rights and sustainable development, this Summit aims to mobilise and converge actions, ambitions, solidarity and solutions to transform education by 2030. A pre-Summit conference will take place in Paris in June 2022. A focused, intensive and inclusive preparatory process has been launched by UNESCO, with the aim of taking into account the priorities of Member States and ensuring the meaningful engagement of young people and all education stakeholders.

The UNESCO Chair is a partner in this event and is involved in its preparation, particularly in the area of “inclusive, equitable, healthy and safe schools”.

Posted by Didier in News