Local Scenes & Current Affairs     

© 2023 by "This Just In". Proudly created with Wix.com

Also Featured In

    Like what you read? Donate now and help me provide fresh news and analysis for my readers   

Search by Tags

2016 Palau Election

ADB

Angaur

Arts

Australia

Blue Boats

CNMI

COmact

China

Chinese tourists

Climate Change

Column

Columnist corner

Commentary

Compact Review AGREEMENT

Compact of Free Associaition

Compact of free association

Conservation

Crime

Culture

DOI

Davao City

Dengue

Diving

Donald Trump

Drought

Economy

Education

El Nino

Environment

FSM

Family Day

Fiber optic

Fisheries

Fishing

Floods

Fruit bat

Guam

Health

Helen Reefs

Hillbroom

Holiday

IUU

Illegal Fishing

Independence Day

Indo-Pacific

Invasive species

Island Food

Islands

Japan

Julie Bishop

Jus' sayin'

Justice

Justiice

Kawasaki

Kedam

Kiribati

Koror

Larry Hillbroom

Micronesia

Micronesian Presidents

NEMO

Ngarchelong

Ngardmau

Night Scene

North Korea Threat

OEK

Olbiil Era Kelulau

Open Government Act

PNCC

PPUC

Pacer Plus

Pacific

Pacific Islands Forum

Palai

Palaiu Pledge

Palau

Palau Compact Agreement

Palau Congress

Palau Iinternational Airport

Palau National Marine Sanctuary

Palau Night Market

Palau Supreme Court

Palau airport

Patrol Boat

Pension Fund

Peter Christian

Philippines

Philppines

Phoenix Islands

Politics

President Rodrigo Duterte

President Tommy Remengesau

Pristine Paradise

RMI

Raynold Oilouch

Re

Region

Resilience

Samoa

School

Senate

Shark

Smaller Island States

Souang

Special Prosecutor

Sports

State Election.

TNC

Taiwan

Tourism

Tourists

Trade

Tuna

United Nations

United States

Venezuela

Vietnam

Visa

WCPFC

WCPFC15

Water

Weather

Wedding

Yap

airline

bigeye

business

communications

cryptocurrency

dugongs

fiber optic

fish and wildlife

fishing aggregating device

freediver

government

illegal drugs

jellyfish

land Court

marijuana

missing

nuclear prohibition

oceans

palau

police

renewable energy

same-sex marriage

sand mining

sharks

slaughterhouse

smuggling

solar panel

tuna

weather

Please reload

  • Facebook Basic Black
  • Twitter Basic Black
  • Google+ Basic Black
Who's Behind The Blog
Search by Tags
Commentary
Columnist Corner

What the health: Ensuring the health of our future

April 16, 2018

|

By Gaafar J. Uherbelau

Auckland, NZ — Last month, Palau observed a national holiday devoted to youth. The government runs a bureau whose purpose is to serve the youth and their interests. Yet, something is missing. Palau's youth as a population group lacks a sense of collective identity and  a common voice that argues for youth issues in the public sphere.

 

  The youth councils and semi-formal youth associations mainly focus on sporting and environmental cleanup activities but critically lack a substantial agenda to promote youth interests in national politics and in the media.

 

  This lack of political advocacy renders them invisible, leaving them without an outlet or a channel through which they can call national attention to issues that negatively affect their health, such as physical and sexual abuse, housing, poverty, crime, drugs, boredom, etc., and the list goes on. We fail to even try assessing this situation.

 

    In Palau, there exists a gap in health and social services. Focus and resources are extensive for infants and young children, adults and the elderly – but in between these two age groups are the youth who don’t get equal attention.

 

   Health stats from the previous year show that aside from alcohol and drug use, depression presents itself as a major health issue among the young people in Palau. Yet, we struggle to come up with meaningful policy and prevention programs that address youth depression and substance use and abuse.

 

  Adults have the tendency to shrug off the young with the expression “ugh, the youth nowadays…” Such dismissive attitude toward the youth becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

 

  I say it’s our fault as adults, as parents, as traditional and elected officials. We are the catalysts that enable the youth to face so many social issues today. In our collective inability to see and acknowledge them as important and crucial part of society, we view and treat them as immature, irresponsible and lacking the necessary life skills that adults should have in order to navigate life. And too often we forget that the only role models they have in life are us. We forget that their struggles stem from our incompetence and lack of intent in dealing with their issues.    

 

  So we should be asking ourselves these questions: Why do we perceive youth issues with the same old attitude? What are the youth doing, or not doing, that is so wrong that it warrants such neglect and misunderstanding from society? Why do we think that at this stage in life they’re too young to learn about life, yet we expect them to be learning things on their own? Why do we think that whatever lessons and teachings we instilled in them as children are sufficient to see them through adolescence? Are we too concerned about our own welfare and well-being that we place the youth at the bottom of the nation’s priority list?

 

  I believe the answers are there. We just need to shift our attitudes toward the youth and be more aware and accepting of failures in dealing with their issues. We need to invest time, resources and trust in them. We need to give them a voice and a chance for them to define their identity and place in our society. We need to consider them valuable partners that could bring to the table innovative and creative solutions to health and other issues they face.

 

  Let’s not forget that when we were their age, we only made it through to adulthood because of the effort and care afforded to us by the generations that came before us. So let us in turn make an effort to ensure that the youth have a chance in life. Let us strive to make them a priority in our society, our culture, and economy. Let us make the youth proud of being who they really are: our children, our wealth, our future.

 

 Gaafar Uherbelau is a social marketer for the Palau Ministry of Health and is currently studying Social Sciences for Public Health at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Send feedback to g.uherbelau@gmail.com

 

Tags:

Columnist corner

Health

Please reload