The Trust for Youth and Child Leadership (TYCL), based in the city, has been chosen to virtually host a side event at the United Nations’ global summit that begins in New York on Tuesday.
The TYCL will be hosting a panel discussion on “The COVID-19 and Youth Mental Health Recovery in Global South: A Way Forward for Local Action” on July 8 (5 p.m. IST and 7.30 a.m. EST in the U.S. and Canada) at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), scheduled from July 6 to 15.
“This will be the third time we are hosting a side event at the UN after the TYCL was accorded Special Consultative Status with United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 2018,” said R. Suresh Krishna, TYCL administrator.
However, this is the first time the focus is on mental health of youth, he said.
The TYCL panel discussion via Zoom aims to bring together key stakeholders in youth development and mental health to reflect, connect, and act on (SDG 17) youth well-being to address the mental health challenges faced by them under the impact of COVID-19. It will lay emphasis on local action in creating a model programme to address mental health needs of young people in global south to mitigate pandemic-related distress as well as youth-centred mental health policy in their respective countries.
Recovery plan
The discussions will focus on developing a recovery plan, with emphasis on strengthening the voice of the youth and their mental health needs to enable a sustainable and resilient recovery from the pandemic.
According to a TYCL concept note, after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, mental health issues spiked due to the loss of jobs and loved ones, and a lack of social lives. Prior to COVID-19, one out of every five youth in the world was suffering from mental health issues, most of which went unnoticed and/or unreported.
Suicide by youth was the second leading cause of death among those aged 15 to 19. Majority of the world’s population lives in the global south, which has historically received only a tiny share of mental health resources. In many countries, the COVID-19 pandemic had spread quickly, and it will have a long-term impact on the youth. The pandemic was expected to have a negative impact on economic and social determinants of mental health in countries in the global south.
According to the Global Burden of Disease study, anxiety, mood, trauma, and stress-related disorders were among the mental health conditions contributing to mental health illnesses globally.
A worrying trend
Most worryingly, the pandemic lays the groundwork for a potential global suicide rise among youth as a consequence of increasing exposure to significant risk factors such as financial stress, rising unemployment, social isolation, declined access to mental health support, and obstacles to mental health services.
Similarly, long-term school closures were likely to have a considerable impact on the mental health of students.
Schools played an essential role in shaping young people’s mental well-being by providing a structured and supervised space for socio-emotional development, friendship, social support networks, and protection from risky behaviours.
The fear of SARS CoV-2, often fuelled by misinformation and rumours on social media, led to anxiety and depression, according to a report that was released by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The TYCL says that with the emergence of high numbers of youth needing mental attention, it was clear that the healthcare systems of low- and middle-income countries were hard-pressed to offer sufficient mental care and support to the affected youth.
As a result, there was a greater need for a long-term and resilient recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
Post COVID-19, as governments plan to revive the economy, they should focus on creating mental healthcare institutions to address the youth, especially by leveraging the reach of digital tools.
Youth-led dialogue
The side event would follow the format of youth-led panel discussions involving stakeholders across the globe to explore themes, such as information status of low- and middle-income countries about the current state of youth mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic, the mental health consequences of COVID-19 on youth in low- and middle-income countries, the impact of inadequate healthcare systems on the youth and the best practices and interventions, actions and policy recommendations needed to support long-term and resilient recovery of the youth from the COVID-19 pandemic.
