Environments in which youth grow up are unable to provide them with the guidance and support that they need for the positive youth development and health awareness to achieve optimal well-being and health outcomes. Often the youth health policies that could transform high-risk environments into environments that promote youth development are neglected. Whereas the existing health policies do not support meaningful, inclusive, and diverse youth participation in health literacy within the school and the youth work environments where youth health literacy education is or should be provided.

Indeed, youth continuously have health needs that transcend the capacity of schools and youth organisations. It is important that the community, the family, and the private sector make efforts in responding to the health needs of youth and that the youth are provided with the right tools, skills, and knowledge about their own health and the existing services from the family level so that youth can prevent health problems and seek timely help and in the appropriate manner. So, beyond school-based interventions, there should be community-based youth health literacy interventions aiming to support the family and strengthen community resilience. 

Community-based interventions are effective since their common feature is that they seek to empower parents and community residents to increase their capacity to inform and care for the health and the well-being of youth. So, a quality and effective community intervention does not only aim to empower, but it also provides responses to the health needs of youth through services that ensure that youth lived experiences and local realities are taken into consideration and met. Therefore, the community as a whole is regarded as an integral resource that can substantially contribute to change and improvement in youth health literacy. Learn more