Global Collective for Indigenous Adolescent Health and Evidence-Based Action
The Global Collective for Indigenous Adolescent Health and Evidence-Based Action has been formed to drive global advocacy and evidence-based action in Indigenous adolescent health. This collective (supported in-part by funding from our CRE in Driving Global Investment in Adolescent Health) will identify and develop solutions and strategies to overcome the inequities that exist for Indigenous young people and will provide a transnational and global platform for the sharing and translation of knowledge, wisdom, and practices. Importantly, this global collective positions individual Indigenous communities, which are typically framed as minority groups within settler-colonial borders, as a global force for good.
Initially, this collective will focus on Indigenous adolescents in the Euro-settler nations of Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, Canada, the USA, Greenland, Norway, and Sweden, given the common colonial histories, data systems, and policy platforms for response.
Initial tasks of this collective will
- identify the priorities and needs of Indigenous adolescents across nations
- define policy relevant indicators to ensure these can be monitored
- assemble the best evidence for actions to enable responses
“Investing in, and empowering, Indigenous young people will build a better future for all. Ensuring the health and wellbeing of Indigenous young people is inextricable from this task.”
This collective is led by Indigenous people and will focus on evidence-based actions. It will have a broader and more comprehensive view of what constitutes evidence beyond colonial constructs to elevate the deep relational wisdom of Indigenous peoples and it will engage young people as equal partners.
“For our collective, empowerment will be the means, not just the result, of engagement.”
This collective is a two part Series on Indigenous adolescent health and will be published in The Lancet in 2023.
Read the announcement of the collective: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02719-7