Dr Sonia Chedom is a volunteer with YMCA Cameroon and the President of the YMCA branch in Ngousso. On 21 July 2022, she became the YMCA’s Youth representative for the World Health Organization (WHO) Youth Council, joining other youth representatives of health and non-health organizations and movements.
The Youth Council is a dynamic network that will amplify the voices and experiences of young people, and leverage their expertise, energy and ideas to promote public health. The YMCA’s ideas, experiences, expertise will support the World Health Organization in its efforts to strengthen youth contributions to public health systems which will enable Member States to meaningfully engage young people as key drivers in policy-making processes.
Dr Chedom is a qualified GP (general practitioner) and is in the process of setting up her own medical practice. She is passionate about improving the health system in Cameroon, particularly around mental health. A member of the YMCA since 2012, Dr Chedomhas participated in many global initiatives of the YMCA and was involved in the Youth-Led Solutions Summit for Climate Action and the Future of Work. “I see the opportunity to advise (the World Health Organization) about the solutions of the health problems that I observe in my local community. I have many things that I have developed to improve these problems”.
The Youth Council will provide advice to and actively engage with the WHO Director-General and WHO Senior Leadership. It will serve as a platform for designing and incubating new initiatives and for expanding existing youth engagement initiatives of WHO. Through the Youth Council, WHO seeks to deliver on sustained, meaningful youth engagement and will prioritize the co-development of an inclusive WHO Youth Engagement Strategy.
Sonia participated in the first WHO Youth Council 2022 meeting on 4 August 2022.