Bringing together leading young experts in Strasbourg, at the European Parliament, to discuss the future that the new generations want, their well-being and their emotional health. This is the ambitious goal of ‘For young people, through people’, the first in a series of meetings of the ‘FutURe’ project, a platform dedicated to the opinions and proposals of young people to approach the public agenda of the European Commission to address mental health problems, promoted by Merck.
The young experts – as stated in a note – were able to discuss and propose solutions on important topics such as the fundamental principles to promote emotional well-being, the role that public bodies should assume in promoting and safeguarding emotional health and how private companies could contribute to improving emotional well-being. The proposals will be formalized in the document ‘Health and emotional well-being: a mosaic of perspectives’, which will be presented in the autumn of this year at the European Parliament with the aim of consolidating a real ‘roadmap’ to address the challenge of emotional health.
The roundtable was attended by Daniel Caspary, Member of the European Parliament, Belén Garijo, Chair of the Executive Board and CEO of Merck, María Rodríguez, former Chair of the European Youth Forum, Florian Boschek, President and Founder of the advocacy organisation HPV Vaccination Now!, Mojca Čeh, Member of the Youth Health Organisation, and Ángela Martínez Pradas, Advisor on Health and Social Engagement. “Emotionally healthy people are the foundation of a cohesive, prosperous and sustainable society,” says Garijo. “Through dialogue with young people on emotional health, a topic of interest across Europe, we aim to ensure that their voices are heard. Together with other public and private institutions, Merck will help build a better future for, with and for young people.” For MEP Caspary, “emotional health is certainly one of the priorities of the European Union, as Ursula von der Leyen has already stated. Furthermore, young people are a particularly vulnerable group – as several studies show – and working for their emotional health means working for the sustainable future of Europe”.
The ‘For them, through them’ initiative gives young people the opportunity to discuss their needs, opinions and concerns with key institutional decision-makers and top executives at Merck. “Too much has been said about young people without taking their voices into account,” observes Marieta Jiménez, Senior Vice President Europe at Merck Healthcare. “Well, at Merck we are very clear that this must not be the case: we must involve young people in the common design of the future they yearn for, giving them a preferential seat at the ‘FutURe’ table. Together we will work to lay the foundations of the world in which they are preparing to play a leading role.”
To this end, a new vision is emerging, with new challenges to address. The pharmaceutical industry will devote resources and energy to better understand the priorities and concerns of young people and how we can work together to find solutions that help build a better future. In this context, the three pillars on which ‘FutURe’ is based are explained: better understanding the needs and expectations of young people through in-depth thematic surveys; leveraging this conversation on the public agenda by organizing several roundtables with the participation of noteworthy young experts to listen to their opinions and proposals; listening to young talents within Merck and increasing their capacity to influence through an internal advocacy platform. The two economic crises of the last century have profoundly changed the labor market and social perceptions of the future. Today, there is a growing awareness of the importance of self-care and leisure, as we are experiencing a major cultural shift in which the main focus is on quality of life, work-life balance and the environment.
The importance of good emotional health is increasingly recognized by young people, as demonstrated by the results of the survey ‘Gen Z and Millennials Emotional Health Merck Survey: What moves young Europeans?’, conducted by Merck in 2023 among young people aged 19 to 36 in 12 European countries. The data showed that 88% of them consider their emotional health as one of the most important aspects of their life and 76% reported thinking about it always or regularly. For this reason – the note concludes – it is necessary to analyze emotional health in young people, to understand the criteria and requirements to ensure their emotional well-being.
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