“Now is the time to think for the long term, to deliver more for young people and succeeding generations and to be better prepared for the challenges ahead.” (UN Secretary-General, Common Agenda 2021).

Six years after the launch of the original report, Our future: a Lancet Commission on adolescent health and wellbeing the health and wellbeing of adolescents is poised at a tipping point. Adolescent health and wellbeing indicators have stagnated while new threats have emerged requiring collective and urgent action.

This Second Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing brings together a diverse group of 45 Commissioners from across disciplines, sectors, and geographies. Given demographic shifts and the likelihood that half of the world’s young people will be growing up in sub-Saharan Africa by the end of the century, we have emphasised the participation of Commissioners living and/or working in Africa. We have also adopted an innovative intergenerational partnership approach to Commission membership with workstreams co-led by senior academics, emerging and early-career research leaders, and youth advocates.

Moving beyond the simple inclusion of young people, the Commission is committed to meaningful and continuous youth engagement and working towards the establishment of complementary and equal partnerships. It also recognizes the importance of engaging young people as empowered actors and leaders in finding solutions to challenges facing their generation.

Professors Alex Ezeh, Russell Viner, and Sarah Baird are co-chairs of the new Commission, supported by Steering Committee members: Professor Peter Azzopardi, Professor Susan Sawyer, Dr Shakira Choonara and the late Professor George Patton.