”The latest research on youth health in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has shown that young people in adolescence often use psychoactive substances, which leads to violence and aggression, and the number of suicides among young people has increased, ” it was concluded yesterday at a round table in Mostar, where the topic “Comprehensive education on youth health in the Federation of BiH (FBiH)” was discussed.
“Namely, we analyzed the latest research on youth health in BiH and they showed, unfortunately, that in our society there are different types of ‘social pathologies’, that the young person at the most vulnerable age, such as adolescence, reaches for psychoactive substances. Young people are often very aggressive, very violent, the number of suicides increases. Also, young people are often inactive, eat unhealthily, and we decided, therefore, to give a strong answer to all these problems in the FBiH, “ told Nadija Bandic, Assistant Federal Minister of Education.
“Research has shown that the mere transfer of knowledge and information is not a sufficient generator to change the problematic conditions of young people, but they need to be strengthened, their skills need to be improved so that they can face all the challenges that await them in everyday life,” Bandicexplained.
Acting Head of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Office in BiH, Zeljko Blagojevic pointed out that the development of each country requires the strengthening of its human capital, and that in this case, the most important thing is to work with young people and include them in society.
“In order to strengthen human capital, it is necessary to strengthen both the educational and health system, and we have gathered here to work on strengthening the system, to improve the health of young people through the educational system,” Blagojevic noted.
“We have been working for many years in cooperation with the Canton Sarajevo and the Bosnian-Podrinje Canton, where some pilot projects have already developed and proved to be very successful and now we want to establish and harmonize these examples of good practice in the other eight cantons,” said Blagojevic.
Yesterday‘s round table gathered representatives of cantonal ministries of education and pedagogical institutes, the Federal Ministry of Health, the Institute of Public Health of the FBiH,and the Institute for Population and Development, as well as prominent experts and educated teachers who implement these topics within the teaching process.
The round table was organized by the Federal Ministry of Education and Science and the UNFPA.
