Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Young people will be key to preventing the next pandemic
Though countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, sometimes collectively called the Global South, are increasingly central to scientific research, disease surveillance, and public health innovation, they historically have had little say in the shaping of policies meant to keep international health crises at bay. They were to provide the pathogen samples, for example, so that wealthier countries could develop vaccines. Poorer countries, though, couldn’t expect equitable access to the knowledge and medicine that came from their contributions. During health scares, they have been last in line for access to life-saving technologies.
The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the implications of this inequality: By late 2021, high-income countries, for example, were averaging more than one vaccine dose per person while low-income countries were administering fewer than four doses per hundred people. And while wealthy countries could develop and distribute vaccines, the African continent, by and large, could not. The recently adopted Pandemic Agreement, emphasizing thing like the need for stronger health systems, better resource sharing, and rapid local manufacturing of vaccines is a step in the right direction, but there is more that still needs to happen to address the world’s uneven ability to prepare for or respond to pandemics. Global health forums like the World Health Assembly, where the pandemic agreement was recently approved, need to fully incorporate the voices and expertise of young people in the Global South, where 90 percent of the world’s 15- to 24-year-olds live.
At the 2023 World Health Assembly, which is the governing body of the World Health Organization (WHO), only 13 of 194 member states included young delegates. That’s less than 7 percent of countries, most of which were high-income. Even when young people participate in these delegations, the roles are limited to advocacy or advisory input, risking a loss of ideas that could strengthen real-world preparedness and response. This absence is particularly striking given how acutely young people are affected by biological threats—from disrupted education and social well-being to long-term economic and mental health impacts.
Young people are already shaping how the world responds to biological threats and helping build the systems that support equitable public health. During COVID, an initiative in Micronesia tackled misinformation by helping shape a direct communication campaign that reached over 20,000 people and improved vaccine uptake by over 30 percent, blending tech-savviness with cultural insight. In Uganda, a group of young people mapped the underserved border districts hit hardest by COVID. Using an existing open-map database, they helped turn blank areas into usable data, supporting government and frontline responders in their efforts.
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The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the implications of this inequality: By late 2021, high-income countries, for example, were averaging more than one vaccine dose per person while low-income countries were administering fewer than four doses per hundred people. And while wealthy countries could develop and distribute vaccines, the African continent, by and large, could not. The recently adopted Pandemic Agreement, emphasizing thing like the need for stronger health systems, better resource sharing, and rapid local manufacturing of vaccines is a step in the right direction, but there is more that still needs to happen to address the world’s uneven ability to prepare for or respond to pandemics. Global health forums like the World Health Assembly, where the pandemic agreement was recently approved, need to fully incorporate the voices and expertise of young people in the Global South, where 90 percent of the world’s 15- to 24-year-olds live.
At the 2023 World Health Assembly, which is the governing body of the World Health Organization (WHO), only 13 of 194 member states included young delegates. That’s less than 7 percent of countries, most of which were high-income. Even when young people participate in these delegations, the roles are limited to advocacy or advisory input, risking a loss of ideas that could strengthen real-world preparedness and response. This absence is particularly striking given how acutely young people are affected by biological threats—from disrupted education and social well-being to long-term economic and mental health impacts.
Young people are already shaping how the world responds to biological threats and helping build the systems that support equitable public health. During COVID, an initiative in Micronesia tackled misinformation by helping shape a direct communication campaign that reached over 20,000 people and improved vaccine uptake by over 30 percent, blending tech-savviness with cultural insight. In Uganda, a group of young people mapped the underserved border districts hit hardest by COVID. Using an existing open-map database, they helped turn blank areas into usable data, supporting government and frontline responders in their efforts.
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