Is health a priority for students? What are the different opinions on health in all the countries of Europe? How can we ensure that young Europeans receive proper knowledge on health topics. These are some of the main questions to be addressed and tackled by AEGEE-Europe's new initiative: The Health4Youth Project.

“Project Health4Youth touches an important field in the framework of youth policy, the wellbeing of young people and how we can support young people with having a healthy lifestyle” says Eider Gardiazabal, Member of the European Parliament and President of the Youth Intergroup during press conference on 19th of February in the European Parliament in Brussels.

After its official launch, the Health4Youth project will start to increase the lifestyle of the youth of Europe. The health of young people in Europe has difficulties making healthy choices and is facing increasing diabetes and obesity rates. These alarming signs were the initiation of the Health4Youth project. Mayri Tildo, Project manager of Health4Youth, explained that this project is leaded by ten young Europeans from all different corners and different backgrounds. Together, they will make sure that this project will serve as a platform for young people to receive insights on how to live healthy, ask advice on health related topics and bring together the different opinions on health.

Aims of the project will be achieved via non-formal education techniques in a youth-friendly and accessible way. In order to stay accessible, the project will stay in touch with the students in Europe via their Facebook page (www.facebook.com/health4youth), Twitter (@Health4Youth) and shortly, via own website. "Right now, we see that there's no common platform for young students to ask questions about health, that in many occasions they put off or don't dare to ask their parents or their teachers. AEGEE-Europe hopes that this project will be able to cover this" says Luis Alvarado Martinez, President of AEGEE-Europe/European Students' Forum.

What is more, this project will not only provide reliable and accessible content for European students, but also organise events all over Europe while including everyone who wants to attend. In this way, the project aims to include the minorities in the society as well. Next to that, the project strives to educate health multipliers using non-formal education techniques who will implement the gained health related knowledge in their communities in their home countries. In this way, the reach of the project will be extended beyond those directly engaged with this project.

About AEGEE-Europe

AEGEE was born 27 years ago with the vision of creating a unified Europe, based on democracy and respect for human rights, bringing together students with different cultural backgrounds. Today, AEGEE is Europe’s largest interdisciplinary youth organisation: 40 countries, 200 cities, 13 000 friends. This network provides the ideal platform for young volunteers to work together on cross-border activities such as international conferences, seminars, exchanges, training courses and case study trips. In line with the challenges young people are currently facing in Europe, AEGEE’s work for the period of 2011-2014 is focused on three main areas: Youth Participation, Bridging Europe and Inclusion of Minorities.

Contact

If you would like to know more about AEGEE, please contact::

Pavel Zborník

European Institutions and Communications Director of AEGEE-Europe

Phone: +32 2 246 0320

Mobile: +32 487 410 060

E-mail: pavel.zbornik@aegee.org

www.aegee.org/press/press-releases