Thousands of Youth worldwide joyfully joined hands in commemorating the International Youth day on the 12th of August. As Hope for a Child in Christ (HOCIC Zimbabwe), we are determined to improve the lives of the young generation who can engage for global action.
In 2018 Jacobus P. van Wouwe, edited a publication, “Understanding the experience and manifestation of depression in adolescents living with HIV in Harare, Zimbabwe”, that suggested that depression is the third leading cause of illness and disability among youth and suicide is the third leading cause of death in adolescents aged 15–19 years. Although young people living with HIV are commonly exposed to multiple risk factors associated with depression in adolescents, there has been a significant lack of attention to the prevalence, manifestation, impact and management of depression in adolescents living with HIV. 2019, International Youth Day should shift its attention towards such a pressing issue. Several studies in Zimbabwe and elsewhere have found that adolescents living with HIV are at risk of depression, which in turn correlates with poor adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART). This is a startling discovery we have to pay attention to in our celebrations of the Youth Day.
Read more: //www.un.org/en/observances/youth-day
Young people are full of dreams that have been thwarted by a compound of economic, social, and political catastrophes the world over. This year’s Youth day demands that community and national institutions deliberately shift their focus on improving the well-being of young people.
The universal event ran under the theme “Youth engagement for Global Action”. The global youth day seeks to highlight the ways in which the engagement for young people at local, and global levels improve national and multilateral institutions. The day aimed to shed light that there is an urgent need to furnish the engagement of the young people by making local, national, and global institutions more inclusive for purposes of strengthening their capacity and relevance to achieve global action. Young people have shown some concern about their current representation and engagement in formal and institutional politics in which they believe can be significantly enhanced. The global youth day also emphasised that the vital ways to make the youth engage well depends on the interconnectedness streams, which are engagement at local or community level, engagement at the national level (which deals with the formulation of laws, their policies and their implementation) and engagement at international level.
Young people, today, have become the change makers, the decision takers, and drivers of innovation. They advocate for transformation. The youth have many needs which have not been met yet, when addressed, they will influence a positive impact at local, national, and international level. An understanding of the narratives of depression among youth is necessary to inform the development of services which are responsive to their mental health needs and can have a positive impact on the long-term mental treatment and care outcome. Fighting with grit to the front bit by bit. Youths are the nolonger the future, they are THE NOW!.
