Campaigns

International Youth Day

13.08.2019

In the first minutes of 12 August 2019 the World Population Clock was ticking 7,723,905,685 people on the Earth.

Approximately 85,9 million people were born in 2019 by this date, contributing to the World's largest population ever, with additional 16 000 babies welcomed to the world in the first few hours on Monday the 12th.

Another important number to mention is 1,8 billion - currently representing young people between the ages of 10 and 24 who are also known as World's Youth, according to the UN. If you happen to know any of that age, hopefully you didn't miss to congratulate them - it was their day! In case of any mischiefs, we hope you were able to forgive them, there are 364 days more to get even.

Forementioned babies, you would have to be patient for the next 10 years in order to have a double celebration (no, this doesn't mean double naughtiness) and if you already turned 25 - wellcome to the real life (it's getting just a bit hairy).

The reason why we discuss all these numbers lays behind the United Nation's designation of 12 August as The International Youth Day, an annual celebration of young people's qualities and contribution to the development of communities around the world. Established back in 1999, this day aims to raise awareness of challenges and problems facing the world’s youth and importance to include young men and women as equal drivers of change in current societies.

This year we are directing our focus towards achieving the Goal 4 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development under the theme „Transforming education“ recognizing it as a crucial tool to set a firm ground on which we can build opportunities for literate and skilled generations of the future.

Even though the investments in global research and development have reached a record high of almost 1,7 trillion USD with around 4 billion USD of public spending on education worldwide. However, according to UNESCO's Institute for Statistics the quality of education we would expect to have worldwide at this point of time hasn't really been affected by these numbers equally. By making basic education one of the main priorities, high income countries have made remarkable improvements in implementing digital innovations in school curricula and providing tools for expansion of applied sciences.

Despite these improvements however, large inequalities remain between nations notably between sub-Saharan Africa and the rest of the world. According to World Bank - World development indicators, Burkina Faso, Niger and South Sudan – the African countries at the bottom of the rank – literacy rates are still below 30%. For others, the only option is self-education.

International Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation (IPSF) is the leading international advocacy organization with more than 350 000 young pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences students and recent graduates has realized the importance of gaining different skills additional to their faculty life. The members of IPSF are devoting their free time to experience different cultures, learn about different work ethics, develop their knowledge and skills by working in dynamic teams of young enthusiasts looking to improve their professional community's environment.

IPSF offers many activities that connect and supplement skills obtained during pharmacy school, for example Patient Counselling Event, Clinical Skills Event, Compounding Event, Industrial Skills Event, Student Exchange Programme, all with aim to empower professional growth of nowadays students.

Not to be forgotten is our annual World Congress, a 10-day event covering different global health topics through educational and scientific symposia, panels and interactive workshops, all devoted to the education of pharmaceutical students and recent graduates.

Even though issues surrounding education and empowerment of young people continue to remain in global communities and will always be a point of discussion, this is the point of time when each and every one of us is responsible to contribute in finding optimal solutions to existing and emerging problems of our Global Village. Ways to overcome obstacles are never easy to find, however giving up should never be an option especially for younger generations that are just starting off their professional and life adventures.

Furthermore as youth we need to be able to utilize our ideas, creativity and innovations. Develop yourself, learn, grow and contribute! After that, goals are going to be much closer.