Young Teenergizer activists presented the voice of teens on the parliamentary youth committee.
On October 8, 2019, Teenergizer activists Dany Stolbunov and Yana Panfilova took part in a round table that was held at the committee on youth issues in the Ukrainian parliament.
Six months ago, in Ukraine, the development of a new “Youth Policy Strategy 2030” began, and, of course, this process did not pass without the participation of active Teenergizer leaders who work to ensure that adolescents and young people become a priority in Ukraine’s healthcare. Thanks to participation in this strategy, such important tasks as:
Providing adolescent-friendly health services through decentralization
What does this mean? In Ukraine, for about 10 years, there has been a system of Youth-Friendly Clinics, but the clinics themselves, after the health care reform is under threat of closure, since they are not beneficial for the financing system of medical services.
But for us it is very important that adolescents have access to confidential and friendly services.
Therefore, if it is inefficient to maintain the clinics themselves in the form of premises, then we offer to provide services through youth centers and organizations at the community level.
Ensuring the development of innovative projects to strengthen and popularize mental health and prevention
Mental health should be discussed as widely as possible, since in the future this will be a serious problem and already now we need to prepare the foundation for maintaining the mental health of the young population.
Integrating preventive education in the field of sexual and reproductive health into the school system
The youth of Ukraine has long been ready to become literate in matters of their own health and body. The more literate they are, the more secure their future family life.
During the round table at the parliament, activists spoke and spoke about the extreme importance of the proposals and tasks made. It was publicly stated that sex education was needed, as well as access to condoms. The discussion took place around the new draft Law of Ukraine on Youth, which should redraw the discussion, work out amendments and be adopted in the near future.
“We recognize that we are not experts in the field of policy development, but we are primarily young patients, recipients of services from this state. I changed many schools and went through many doctors and I know what I’m talking about. Young people no longer believe in God in the majority, but what they have a critical demand for is understanding the level of awareness and responsibility for their health. We are ready to get involved in the development of any programs at any time and we appreciate the opportunity to cooperate with the state, we are pleased to be involved! ”
– said Yana Panfilova, head of the board of Teenergizer.
Thanks to our participation, even more opportunities have opened up to us – we are part of a group of public activists in the field of education who hold public discussions of the new draft Law on Youth.
Our task is to ensure that the law spells out services that the state should finance. And so that the concept of “teenager” appears in it, since this is a separate category.
In addition, we secured support and will soon meet with the deputy chairman of the parliamentary committee on youth, the deputy of the presidential party, Irina Borzova, in order to attract support in the parliament for changes in the legislation that we are implementing, namely, that a teenager from 16 years old can freely get medical service and health information without the consent of parents and guardians, and on enshrining in the law the concept of “teenager” from 10 to 18 years.
