Three experts on what public health keeps getting wrong about men’s health and what it would take to get it right

Men’s Health Week usually makes room for awareness and reflection. But it rarely makes room for the harder question: why, after all this time, are the gaps still so wide?  

For nearly a decade, Global 50/50 has built its work around a single truth that gender shapes health outcomes for everyone. Not just women, not just in clinics, but across the whole of societies.

Blaming the fish

At a men’s health conference last year, the campaign group Movember offered a metaphor that Sally Theobald has not forgotten. If all the fish in a pond were dying too young, we wouldn’t blame the fish — we’d look at what’s wrong with the water. Theobald, a health systems researcher at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, invokes it to describe where the field keeps going astray:

“If we see men’s health outcomes mainly because of poor choices, we will keep investing in awareness campaigns and behaviour change messaging,” she says. “If we understand them as shaped by gendered social, commercial and structural determinants, then the focus shifts towards systems and reducing social and economic disadvantage.”

Men die earlier than women in almost every country in the world. Yet as Jeremiah Chikovore, a sociologist at the Human Sciences Research Council in South Africa, points out, the field that produced all that mortality data has invested remarkably little in understanding what drives it.

“The health field historically applied a gendered lens only to women, largely through reproductive health,” he says. “Men were treated as the ‘default body’, and hence their specific vulnerabilities were not problematised. Knowledge about male physiology was produced, but not about the social experience of being a man and what that does to health.”

The costs have been measurable. Male depression gets coded as a behavioural problem. Occupational injury gets filed under labour policy. Male suicide sits in an epidemiological category of its own, rarely interrogated as a gendered phenomenon with gendered causes and gendered solutions. And funding has followed: research on prostate cancer, suicide, and occupational disease operates, as Chikovore puts it, with researchers “in relative isolation from one another” and without the sustained advocacy infrastructure that has, rightly, driven progress in women’s health.

The gap is not biological fate

The male-female life expectancy gap may be visible in nearly all countries, but it is not fixed. In Norwegian municipalities with the most favourable social conditions, the gap in life expectancy approaches zero. That is hard to explain biologically.

Vegard Skirbekk, from the University of Oslo, who leads the ERC-funded HOMME project, one of the most systematic efforts to understand male longevity across settings, has documented communities where men’s and women’s life expectancies nearly converge.

“We are identifying specific communities and contexts where men not only survive but thrive with long lives close to matching female life expectancy. We also need to understand why inequality among men is so high — and much higher than among women. This variation challenges the idea that the gap is purely biological and inevitable.”

What produces those communities? Meaningful work, reduced isolation, better education and employment pathways, environments that reduce rather than reward self-destructive risk. Skirbekk is clear that men’s excess mortality is “overwhelmingly behavioural, social and commercial rather than biological: risk-taking, low help-seeking shaped by masculinity norms, occupational hazards, and industries, including tobacco, alcohol, gambling, ultra-processed food, that disproportionately target men.”

Yet, the commercial determinants of men’s health, the industries that actively profit from male mortality, remain conspicuously absent from most Men’s Health Week conversations. The Brocher workshop was explicit: the alcohol industry constructs and exploits masculine norms and social isolation; ultra-processed food manufacturers exploit the gendered burden of care and time poverty. But public health has been slow in designing responses to these harms.

As Dr Chikovore puts it, “Men’s health is a global equity issue. If we neglect it, we allow the deepening of social divides and the fuelling of toxic movements that exploit male disadvantage. But if we embrace a gender lens that includes men, we can build healthier, more resilient societies where everyone benefits.”

The narrow frame and what it costs

For decades, “gender and health” has effectively meant reproductive health for women aged 15 to 49. All three experts converge on the same verdict, that framing has cost everyone.

It has cost men targeted policy attention on suicide, mental health, occupational disease, and the chronic conditions, cardiovascular disease above all, that kill them early. It has also cost women. As Theobald notes, the reproductive frame reduces women to their childbearing capacity, leaving the health needs of adolescent girls, older women, and anyone outside the reproductive window systematically underserved. The 15-to-49 age band for women is an administrative convention inherited from population policy but it’s not a biological standard. There is no equivalent for men at all.

Chikovore adds something that rarely appears in these analyses: the frame costs families. He recalls attending a child health clinic as a young father in the late 1990s, only to be greeted by nurses with the comment, half joking: “Where is the mom? We want moms here; we are used to having moms, not you fathers.” That moment, he argues, captures something enduring about the many ways men become distanced from healthcare — not because they don’t want to be there, but because systems are designed around their absence. “Men are significantly less likely to visit a doctor regularly,” he says, “and when they do, they often present with more advanced disease. Yet the stereotype of men as reluctant health-seekers can be misleading: the bigger problem might lie less in male resistance than in health system design, and the gender relations architecture that governs how men are made to function every day.”

The pond public health ignores

The most urgent version of the neglected-pond problem is the manosphere. All three researchers agree: online ecosystems built around male grievance and misogyny have become a public health issue that the field has been dangerously slow to recognise and public health’s failure to engage is itself part of the problem.

The manosphere does not manufacture men’s problems. It exploits real ones: loneliness, unemployment, poor mental health, economic marginalisation. But public health’s failure to engage with men where they are, including online, has left a vacuum, and the vacuum has been filled.

“The harms are measurable and population-level: increased misogynistic violence, suicide risk, radicalisation, and the erosion of young men’s capacity for healthy relationships and social connection,” says Chikovore. “These meet any reasonable threshold for public health concern. But medicalising or securitising the response risks missing the point. The more useful frame is upstream prevention: investing in the socio-economic conditions, mental health infrastructure, and genuinely inclusive masculinity narratives that reduce vulnerability to recruitment in the first place.”

Theobald goes further on the question of urgency: “The manosphere and its impacts are growing globally and have wide-reaching ramifications for public health for all — women, men, and others. If public health does not engage with gender and men’s health, we risk discussions about masculinity and men’s struggles being shaped by other actors, including dominant voices in the manosphere.” The response, she argues, requires a twin-track approach: simultaneously reducing the harms associated with manosphere content while addressing the underlying structural determinants that draw men to it in the first place.

Changing the water

Men’s Health Week is a week. Changing the water is a longer project. But the Brocher workshop made one thing clear: in communities where the social conditions are right, the life expectancy gap between men and women approaches zero. Male disadvantage is not biological destiny and it’s not a niche concern.

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This article was originally published by Global 50/50 and is republished here with permission.

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At 93, she was medically stable—but socially disappearing.

We often start discussions of longevity with numbers: life expectancy, ageing curves, the size of the “over 65” population. But these figures rarely capture what it means to grow old. Having worked in emergency rooms, hospital wards, global health, and policy at WHO, I’ve learned that these statistics only scratch the surface. What truly matters is people.

As a student in Geneva, I was assigned to visit an elderly woman every Saturday morning. She was 93 and lived alone in a modest, working class neighbourhood. Her world had gradually shrunk to the space around her bed, surrounded by a lifetime of belongings. Nurses came. Social workers came. On paper, the system was there. But there was almost no family contact and no outings. Her life was medically safe, but very small.

Her name was Louise Gouillet. At the time, I only knew fragments of her story from our conversations and from the photographs she kept close. Later, I discovered that a Geneva-based publishing house, Éditions Zoé, had actually published her life story under the simple title “Louise.” The book follows her journey as a working-class woman born in 1898, who moved to Geneva in 1926 to join her future husband, a travelling upholsterer. It traces almost a century of change in the city through her eyes, and has become recognised as one of the early, landmark “récits de vie” that gave voice to ordinary people and to what is often called the “mémoire ouvrière,” the worker’s memory, of neighbourhoods such as La Jonction. I had, without realising it, been visiting not just a “case” or a “beneficiary,” but a woman whose life had already been carefully documented as part of Geneva’s social history.

Over time, I became part of her routine. One morning, she asked me to take an old photo reel from her camera. We sat next to each other and looked at photos of holidays in Brittany and family celebrations. In those images, she was a young working woman, full of movement, relationships and purpose. In that moment, the frail woman in the bed and the vibrant woman in the photographs were one continuous story. Her health wasn’t just a list of diagnoses. It was the sum of her roles, connections and memories. That experience has stayed with me. It reinforced something that has become clearer with each year of clinical and policy work. Health is not only about medical care. It is also about belonging, dignity and purpose.

This is why the Japanese term “kodokushi,” lonely death, feels so unsettling. It describes people who die alone and remain undiscovered for days or weeks. Behind the word are lives that have slowly slipped out of view. It is often the result of profound demographic and social shifts—urbanisation, ageing populations, and the erosion of traditional family and community structures. Japan is not unique. Around the world, more people are living longer, often alone and with thinner social networks. We celebrate gains in life expectancy while quietly struggling with the reality that many older people are ageing without the social networks that give life meaning.

The evidence is now very clear. Loneliness and social isolation in older age are linked with higher risks of depression, cognitive decline, heart disease and premature death. WHO’s Decade of Healthy Ageing and its work on social connection recognise isolation as a major public health issue, not a soft, secondary concern. Yet our systems remain largely organised to diagnose and treat disease rather than to sustain connection.

Healthy ageing is frequently framed as an individual project. Eat well, exercise, stop smoking, and take your medicines. These matter. But no amount of personal discipline can compensate for settings that make older people invisible. On a night shift in the emergency room, you quickly see the difference between an older patient who arrives with family or neighbours and one who arrives entirely alone. Clinically, their conditions may be similar. Humanly, their situations are worlds apart.

In Arabic, there is a proverb: “He who grows up doing something will grow old doing it.” Man shabba ʻalā shayʼin shāba ʻalayh. We use it to talk about habits, but it also applies to relationships. The social roles and routines we build over a lifetime do not lose value as we age. If anything, they become even more protective. Another saying reminds us, “Knowledge in childhood is like engraving on stone.” The respect, closeness and intergenerational solidarity we engrave early will shape how we treat older people later, and how we ourselves will be treated when our hair turns white.

Globally, the conversation about ageing is shifting. WHO defines healthy ageing as maintaining the functional ability to be and do what people value in older age. That definition quietly pushes us beyond survival. It asks whether an older person can still walk to the mosque, the church or the market; attend a grandchild’s school event; argue about politics with friends; tend a garden; volunteer in the community. These everyday activities are not side notes. They are the core of what makes added years worth living.
If we take this seriously, social connections must be seen as basic infrastructure. We have long accepted that roads, water, electricity and now digital access are essential for health.

Social connection should sit alongside them. WHO and others are documenting how community groups, befriending schemes, “age-friendly” public spaces, and inclusive transport can reduce isolation and improve wellbeing when intentionally designed. Often, these are modest interventions. A safe bench on a street. A community centre that stays open in the evening. A regular, unrushed visit. The impact can be profound.

But recognising this is not enough. Social connection must be embedded into policy, measured, and funded. We also need to look beyond the health and social sectors. Longevity and healthy ageing are shaped by housing, transport, urban planning, technology, finance, culture and media. The story of the Yakult delivery women in Japan, who bring not only yoghurt but also human contact to older people living alone, is a small but powerful illustration. A product designed for gut health became, through its delivery, a channel for social connection. That is not charity of public relations. It shows how the private sector can contribute meaningfully to healthier ageing ecosystems when it recognises the lived realities of its customers.

In our region, we can learn from such examples while drawing on our own traditions. Many Arab societies still hold strong ideals of family responsibility and respect for older people, even as modern life strains those patterns. Smaller households, urban living, and the mobility of younger generations are reshaping traditional support systems.The task ahead is not to romanticise the past, but to translate its best values into new forms that fit urban, mobile, two-income, digital lives. That might mean designing housing that keeps generations closer, creating roles for older people in schools and civic life, or using technology to support rather than replace human visits.

Governments are increasingly aware of these problems, but awareness alone is not . enoughSocial connection should be treated as a core indicator of healthy ageing, integrated into national strategies, primary care, and urban policy. Now we must broaden our definition of “health work” to include the quiet, relational acts that keep older people anchored to their communities. Support weekly visits, encourage neighbours to check in, and recognise delivery workers who offer conversation as crucial contributors to a more dignified ageing process. Take steps to ensure older people remain connected and valued.

Longevity is often presented as a triumph of science, and it is. But if longer lives are spent in isolation, with shrinking horizons and a fading feeling of purpose, we will have missed the real goal. Our main challenge is not just to add years to life, but to ensure these years are meaningful, connected, and dignified. The real measure of success will be whether people can keep doing what matters to them, for as long as possible, surrounded by others who know who they are and who they have been.

The question is simple: when someone like Louise reaches 93, will she still be seen?

Turning this vision into reality means building societies where added years are not only longer, but richer in meaning, connection, and dignity.

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WISH CEO Dr Slim Slama will serve as a panelist in a high-level session marking the tenth anniversary of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2286, which calls on states to protect medical care in situations of armed conflict. The session, “Attacks on medical care 10 years after UNSC Resolution 2286,” will bring together experts from MSF, Insecurity Insight, Ritsumeikan University and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to examine how, despite a strong legal framework, attacks on healthcare have escalated to unprecedented levels.

According to the World Health Organization, more than 1,370 attacks on medical care were recorded in 2025, with the largest numbers of incidents documented in Ukraine and Palestine and the highest number of deaths linked to attacks on healthcare occurring in Sudan. These attacks include the bombing and shelling of hospitals and clinics, the obstruction of ambulances, and violence against health workers, patients and caregivers.

The Congress, held under the theme “Humanitarianism in a transforming world order,” comes at a time when geopolitical shifts, the politicisation of aid, and double standards in the application of international law are eroding the foundations of humanitarian action. In this context, protecting healthcare has become a critical test of the international community’s commitment to humanitarian principles.

Dr Slama’s participation builds on WISH’s growing body of work on attacks on health. In 2024, WISH and WHO jointly launched In the Line of Fire: Protecting Health in Armed Conflict, a flagship report that documents trends in attacks on healthcare and sets out priority recommendations for governments, international organisations and civil society to prevent and respond to such violations. In 2025, WISH convened a major panel at the Qatar Pavilion at Expo Osaka titled “Protecting Health in Armed Conflict,” bringing together representatives from MSF, WHO, UNRWA and the ICRC to advance collective action and build a coalition of actors committed to ending impunity.

Through evidence generation, high-level dialogue and coalition-building, WISH aims to help ensure that attacks on health are not normalised and that protecting healthcare in conflict is treated as a non‑negotiable obligation under international humanitarian law. More information on Humanitarian Congress Tokyo 2026 is available on the Congress website: https://www.msf.or.jp/congress/

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International Nurses Day should be more than a moment to thank nurses. It should also make us ask a bigger question: does the world really understand what nursing is, and what nursing makes possible?

At a time when health systems are under huge pressure from workforce shortages, ageing populations, conflict, rising costs and growing inequality, nursing is too important to be misunderstood or undervalued.

Nursing is often called the backbone of healthcare. That is meant as praise, but it still does not fully capture the reality of modern nursing. Nurses are not simply supporting health systems from behind the scenes. Nursing is one of the most trusted and influential professions in the world, and nurses are central to whether health systems succeed or fail.

Every day, nurses improve access to care, strengthen primary healthcare, prevent illness, respond to emergencies, support communities and protect patient safety. In many countries and crisis settings, nurses are the health system people rely on most. Sometimes they are the only health professionals consistently available.

The evidence is clear: when countries invest in nursing, patients do better, health systems are stronger and societies are healthier. Yet too often nursing is still seen mainly as a cost to control rather than a strategic investment.

That is why the new International Council of Nurses (ICN) Definition of Nursing and Definition of a Nurse matter.

These are the first major updates in decades, developed at a time when healthcare is changing rapidly. Health systems today face challenges that previous generations could barely imagine: chronic disease, climate-related disasters, technological change, mass displacement, workforce migration and growing global instability.

Definitions matter because they shape how professions are understood, valued and supported. They influence education, regulation, workforce planning and policy decisions. If nursing is defined too narrowly, nurses themselves become constrained. They are reduced to tasks instead of recognised for the knowledge, judgement and responsibility they bring to care every day.

The new ICN definitions reflect the reality of modern nursing.

Nursing is not just about carrying out tasks. Nurses constantly assess situations, make decisions, solve problems, communicate, advocate and adapt in fast-changing and often unpredictable environments. Safe healthcare depends on that professional judgement.

Today nurses work everywhere healthcare happens: hospitals, primary healthcare, mental health, aged care, humanitarian emergencies, schools, communities, research, leadership, digital health and government policy. Nurses do far more than deliver care. They improve health literacy, design services, lead teams, use evidence, strengthen communities and shape health policy.

Importantly, the new ICN Definition of Nursing begins by recognising that nursing is committed to upholding every person’s right to the highest attainable standard of health. That matters because nursing is not only about treating illness. It is also about protecting human rights, reducing inequality, preventing harm and improving health across entire populations.

This is not just important for nurses. It matters for governments looking for answers to increasingly difficult health challenges.

Around the world, health systems are struggling with workforce shortages, rising demand and growing financial pressure. Conflict and humanitarian crises are placing even greater strain on already fragile systems. In these situations, nurses are often the people holding healthcare together. They protect both health and human dignity in extremely difficult circumstances.

But nurses cannot keep doing more with less forever.

If we want stronger health systems, we must move beyond praising nurses and start properly investing in nursing.

This year’s International Nurses Day message is clear: empowered nurses save lives.

Empowerment is not a slogan. It means giving nurses the education, regulation, staffing, leadership opportunities, protection and fair working conditions they need to do their jobs safely and effectively.

It also means looking after nurses themselves.

Too many nurses are working under relentless pressure, facing burnout, unsafe staffing levels, violence and poor working conditions. Increasing numbers are leaving their countries because they cannot find safety, support or opportunity at home. Health systems cannot survive while the nursing workforce is exhausted and undervalued.

Ethical recruitment, fair conditions and support for nurse wellbeing are not optional extras. They are essential to building sustainable health systems.

The new Definition of a Nurse reinforces this by recognising nurses as scientifically educated, regulated and professionally accountable practitioners. Public trust in nursing is built not only on compassion, but also on competence, ethics and professional standards.

We need both.

The wider importance of these new definitions is that they give governments, educators, regulators and health leaders a modern and shared understanding of nursing. They help ensure nursing is defined by the reality of contemporary practice, not by outdated stereotypes or narrow assumptions.

That conversation is especially important in global forums such as the World Innovation Summit for Health. Too often nursing is still treated mainly as an implementation workforce brought in after decisions have already been made. That approach misses the point entirely.

Nursing is central to many of the solutions health systems are searching for: prevention, community care, trust, resilience, sustainability and equity.

The new ICN definitions are not just words on paper. They are a foundation for action.

Their success will be measured by whether they lead to stronger investment in nursing education, better workforce policies, safer care, ethical workforce mobility and greater nursing leadership in health systems around the world.

If countries want healthier populations, stronger economies and more resilient health systems, they must stop seeing nursing as a cost to manage and start recognising it as one of the smartest investments they can make.

The new ICN definitions help make that case clearly, and the world should pay attention.

Mr. Howard Catton, CEO of the International Council of Nurses (ICN) is a passionate advocate for nurses and the transformative power of the nursing profession and a respected and recognised global health leader. Through the ICN network of more than 140 National Nursing Associations he works to support nurses as the backbone of our health systems and delivering health improvement

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Children’s minds are on the frontline of today’s conflicts. From Gaza to Sudan, Ukraine to Yemen, millions of children are growing up amid bombardment, displacement and the daily fear that schools, hospitals and homes may no longer be safe. Attacks on health systems and personnel are increasingly documented and condemned, yet the invisible toll on children’s mental health remains vastly under-recognised and even more poorly funded. This is not due to a lack of evidence, but rather a persistent failure to prioritise mental health within humanitarian and health responses.This is the gap that the new BMJ Collection on child mental health in conflict settings, proposed and funded by the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), seeks to address. Developed in partnership with The BMJ, and fully and independently commissioned, peer reviewed and edited by its editorial team, the collection brings together new evidence on how conflict shapes young minds and on what health and humanitarian systems can do differently in response.

Consider a child brought to a clinic for a physical injury, while the distress behind their silence, nightmares, and withdrawal goes unnoticed and untreated.

For WISH, this collection is an integral part of its long term work on attack on health in humanitarian conflicts, not a stand alone project. The WISH and WHO report “In the Line of Fire: Protecting Health in Armed Conflict”, launched at the WISH7 Summit in November 2024, documented the rising number and complexity of attacks on healthcare and called for stronger legal protections, better data and much greater political accountability. It made clear that the damage is not only physical. When health facilities are bombed, ambulances are blocked or health workers are threatened, communities lose trust in the very systems that are meant to protect them. For children, whose brains and identities are still developing, this erosion of safety and trust can have lifelong consequences for mental health, learning and social relationships.

The BMJ Collection takes this logic to where it most urgently belongs, which is with the mental health of children living through conflict. If attacks on health systems undermine the foundations of wellbeing, then protecting health must explicitly include protecting children’s mental health.  Mental health support in emergencies cannot be treated as an optional extra that is considered only after physical needs are met. Yet in practice, this is still too often the case. In conflict settings it is part of the core health response. The three peer reviewed papers in the collection each address a critical but often overlooked dimension of this reality and together they move the discussion from general concern to specific, actionable solutions.

The first strand of work highlighted in the series concerns the long-term consequences of early exposure to violence and instability. Children who live through bombardment, forced displacement or the loss of caregivers to conflict do not simply recover once the shooting stops. Without appropriate support, these experiences can shape their mental health, educational pathways and economic prospects well into adulthood. The evidence points to increased risks of depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions, as well as poorer school performance and reduced chances of decent work. Unresolved childhood trauma can also contribute to cycles of violence and fragility, affecting families and communities across generations. This shifts the policy lens from short-term recovery to long-term human capital investment.Recognizing this long horizon changes how we should think about recovery, from a short-term return to basic services to a generational investment in human potential.

The second core insight from the collection is that effective and scalable interventions already exist, including in very fragile settings. Programmes delivered by trained non-specialists, such as community health workers or teachers, have shown promising results in reducing symptoms of psychological distress among children and adolescents affected by conflict. Integrating such interventions into primary care, schools and community-based services is both feasible and relatively affordable, yet remains insufficiently prioritised and financed. The papers argue for practical approaches such as task sharing, stepped care and the inclusion of mental health indicators in routine health and education information systems so that children in distress can be identified and supported earlier and more consistently.

The third major contribution of the series lies in its focus on financing and governance. Despite extremely high levels of need, mental health receives only a tiny fraction of humanitarian funding, and child and adolescent mental health an even smaller share.This reflects a structural imbalance in how health priorities are defined and funded in crises.Where resources are available, they are often short term and project based and are poorly embedded in national health and education plans. At a time when reductions in official development assistance and constrained humanitarian response plans are driving a renewed focus on narrowly defined “lifesaving” interventions, mental health and psychosocial support—including community-based approaches—risk being deprioritised despite their essential role as a first line of response. The collection calls for long term, system wide approaches that embed child mental health into national policies, align humanitarian and development funding around shared outcomes, and encourage donors to treat investment in mental health as core to rebuilding societies rather than as discretionary spending. This involves better data, clearer accountability and a willingness to measure success in ways that go beyond mortality and service coverage to include emotional recovery and social functioning.

WISH’s role throughout this process has been deliberately catalytic. As a platform that bridges evidence, policy and global health diplomacy, WISH has convened high-level dialogue across Doha, New York, Geneva and Osaka to address the realities of health systems under attack. The BMJ Collection on child mental health in conflict settings extends this agenda by ensuring that the mental health of children is no longer a side note in debates about attacks on health but a central concern. WISH proposed the collection, provided funding, and covered the open-access fees, so that all three papers are freely available to readers everywhere. This commitment to open access is more than a technical detail. It ensures that frontline practitioners, policymakers, advocates, and researchers in low- and middle-income countries, who are often closest to these issues, can use and build on the findings without financial barriers.

By supporting open-access publication, WISH has helped maximise the reach and potential impact of the collection. The evidence can now inform national policies, humanitarian guidelines and donor strategies in real time, rather than remaining locked behind paywalls. It also fits with WISH’s broader effort to bridge the gap between global policy discussions and the lived realities of children in conflict zones. Through its programmes on attack on health, WISH is already engaging governments, UN agencies and civil society on how to prevent and respond to attacks on healthcare facilities and workers. The child mental health collection offers concrete answers to related questions that are often neglected, such as how to design services that take account of the psychological impact of attacks, how to support children who witness violence or lose trusted health workers, and how to know whether recovery efforts are truly reaching children in distress.

Placing this series at the heart of WISH’s work on attack on health sends a clear message. In conflict settings, protecting children’s mental health is inseparable from protecting health systems. Rebuilding hospitals without addressing the fear that keeps families away is not enough. Running vaccination campaigns while leaving trauma untreated is not enough.

Moving forward, this requires concrete shifts in policy and practice:

1. Integrating child mental health into all humanitarian health packages as a core component
2. Allocating sustained and predictable financing, including dedicated funding streams
3. Embedding mental health indicators in health and education systems
4. Aligning humanitarian and development approaches around long-term outcomes for children

For WISH, this BMJ Collection is both a result of years of work and a starting point for the next phase. It brings rigorous evidence into an area where moral urgency has long outpaced practical guidance. The question is no longer what needs to be done, but whether the international community is willing to act.

Children living through conflict have already lost too much. If their minds as well as their bodies are to be protected, child mental health must be treated as one of the central health priorities of our time rather than as an afterthought.

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It is widely recognized that health systems are often the first to be disrupted and the last to recover in times of conflict and disaster. When hospitals are damaged, clinics close, health workers are displaced, and supply chains break down, the consequences are immediate and profound. Communities cannot survive, adapt, or rebuild their lives with dignity without reliable access to essential health services. Health is not a separate track from humanitarian action; it is one of its defining pillars.

At Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS), our almost-half-a-century humanitarian experience has shaped a firm conviction: health is not a secondary consideration; it is at the heart of any meaningful response. In the midst of armed conflict, sudden natural disasters, or protracted crises, health interventions form the backbone of community resilience. Emergency medical care, disease prevention, maternal and child health, and mental health support are not optional additions; they are core components of any effective humanitarian effort.

Our work around the world has shown us that the needs are wide-ranging and constant. In some settings, our teams provide emergency surgical care for those wounded by violence or deploy field hospitals and mobile clinics where health facilities have been destroyed or rendered inaccessible. In other cases, we focus on primary health care, vaccination campaigns, and reproductive health services to ensure that routine but life-saving care does not stop when crises begin. We support chronic disease management, so that conditions such as diabetes and hypertension do not become silent emergencies when medications run out. We invest in mental health and psychosocial support services for those who have experienced loss, displacement, and trauma, realizing that invisible wounds can be as devastating as physical ones.

This work is not confined to a specific region or time of day. QRCS operates across multiple countries, in conflict zones, fragile settings, and disaster-affected communities, often in the most challenging environments. Our health interventions run around the clock, from emergency departments treating mass casualty incidents to outreach teams travelling long distances to reach remote villages with vaccinations, maternal health care, and health education. We support health workers with training, supplies, and technical guidance so that health care continues even long after the cameras have left. This continuity is vital. Health relief is not only about the first 72 hours, but it is also about sustaining services that uphold life and dignity for months and years.

Today’s crises are increasingly complex and interconnected. Conflicts intersect with forced displacement, weak or overstretched health systems, emerging and re-emerging disease outbreaks, and the growing impact of climate-related disasters. In such a landscape, short-term, fragmented responses are no longer enough. Humanitarian health interventions must be designed to strengthen resilience, maintain service continuity, and build the capacity of local systems, even amid instability. This means supporting local health institutions, training national staff, ensuring supply chains can withstand shocks, and integrating emergency programs with longer-term health strategies.

To achieve this, strategic and integrative partnerships are essential. No single organization, however experienced, can address the full spectrum of needs on its own. Responding to global health challenges in humanitarian contexts requires coordinated efforts that bring together frontline responders, policymakers, innovators, researchers, and platforms that translate evidence into practice. We need spaces where those working in the field can share their realities, and where those shaping policy can listen, respond, and design solutions that are both ambitious and grounded.

In this regard, the partnership between QRCS and the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) is an impressive and inspiring homegrown model. WISH plays a central role in shaping global health discourse, generating and disseminating evidence-based policy recommendations, and convening diverse stakeholders to address the most pressing health challenges of our time. Through our collaboration, we work to ensure that the realities of health in conflicts and disasters are not treated as a marginal topic but are firmly embedded in high-level global dialogue.

This partnership allows us to bridge the gap between what is happening in the field and exchanges at the conference rooms. It brings the voices of vulnerable and affected communities, as well as frontline health workers, into strategic discussions that often take place far from the sites of crisis. Their experiences are shared not as abstract data points, but as lived realities that must inform global priorities. At the same time, insights and innovations emerging from the global health community can be adapted and applied in humanitarian settings, helping us to improve the quality, efficiency, and equity of our health responses.

Working together, QRCS and WISH can highlight the importance of humane, context-sensitive, and inclusive innovation. Whether it is the use of digital tools to support remote health services, new models of community-based care, or approaches that integrate mental health into emergency response, our joint efforts seek to ensure that innovation serves those most at risk, rather than widening the existing gaps. This requires humility, collaboration, and willingness to learn from both success and failure.

In conclusion, strong health responses in fragile and crisis-affected contexts are not only a humanitarian imperative but also a cornerstone of global health security. Disease outbreaks weakened health systems, and unmet health needs in one part of the world can have far-reaching consequences. The future of humanitarian action, therefore, demands a more holistic approach, one that connects rapid emergency response with longer-term health outcomes and that places emphasis on innovation, sustainability, and local leadership.

Integrative partnerships, such as the QRCS–WISH model, are central to this transformation. By aligning humanitarian practice with cutting-edge knowledge, by elevating the perspectives of those on the front line, and by committing to shared responsibility, we can build responses that are more compassionate, more effective, and more resilient. At QRCS, we remain committed to this path, working every day and every night, in crises across the globe, to ensure that health remains at the heart of humanitarian action and that those most affected by conflicts and disasters are not left behind.

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Young people all throughout the world are growing up in a period of great change, with many demands on them and a lot of uncertainty. As a key speaker at the panel Healthy Minds at School: Supporting Student Wellbeing, co-hosted by WISH and 321 Museum, I had the opportunity to hear directly from students about their challenges and hopes. What stayed with me most from that discussion was how important it is not only to talk about young people’s mental health but to genuinely listen to them. When young people feel that their voices are heard and taken seriously, their sense of safety becomes stronger, even when the world around them feels uncertain.

These conversations highlighted how a lot of young people nowadays are coping with emotional problems that are worse than those that earlier generations had to cope with. These problems include the pressure to achieve well in school and events that are always being spoken about. The National Institutes of Health and other health groups say that more young people are having mental health problems, including more anxiety, depression, and stress.

There isn’t just one thing that causes these problems. Because social media and digital technology are everywhere, young people now think about themselves in a different way. They compare themselves to others and question if they fit in. The pressure to get good grades has also gone up, which might make it more stressful than helpful. A lot of young people are also growing up in a world that seems unpredictable since there are always new things happening, and tensions are high. These experiences can affect their mental health over time, even if they don’t always show it.

In my work with people, I’ve learned that the most important thing for them is not just large events, but also the feeling that the world around them is not solid when their routines are not regular and when the people around them are frightened. Young individuals might not be able to talk about their anxieties. They need to know that everything will be well.

This makes schools, families, and communities wonder how they might help young people’s mental health in a world that is stressful and uncertain.

Instead of trying for a quick fix, we should think about what young people need most when they are worried and unsure: stability, connection, and the knowledge that they are not alone and that they are heard, seen, and safe.

A key worry is how stressful places damage people’s thinking. Young individuals are keenly aware of the world around them. Even when they aren’t directly involved, they can often feel the stress in the people around them when their habits change or conversations are laced with fear.

I’ve seen how quickly individuals pick up on these signs in my work with them. Sometimes they don’t even know what’s going on, but they know something isn’t right.

The United Nations Children’s Fund has said that stress that lasts for a long time, whether from academic pressure, social expectations, or significant events, can disrupt sleep, focus, mood, and conduct. This can make you irritable, want to be alone, lose interest, or have trouble paying attention in class. These reactions don’t mean you’re weak. Normal reactions of a youthful mind attempting to figure out a difficult world.

Some people, especially those who are more sensitive or have trouble learning, can feel overwhelmed by even slight changes. I’ve seen that when routines are broken, students who were calm before may become restless, worried, or quickly frustrated. They don’t require an explanation right now. A feeling that someone gets about how they feel. Young people can go back on track even when they can’t change the environment if they feel safe emotionally.

Instead of attempting to get rid of all sources of stress, which isn’t always possible, we should work on making places where young people feel supported, connected, and sure that they aren’t going through hard times alone.

You can’t say enough about how important it is to have helpful relationships. Having solid and compassionate connections is one thing that helps keep your mental health good. When adults around young people are calm, available, and really paying attention, the young people are more likely to handle stress better. I often hear kids say that what helps them the most is knowing that there is someone who will listen to them without criticizing them or attempting to solve things.

Truly listening to young people is crucial to validate their emotions, build trust, foster self-esteem, and help them feel valued rather than dismissed. It is essential for understanding their unique perspectives on modern challenges and prepare them to take ownership of their future.  

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has done research that reveals a positive school environment and strong family ties are directly associated to lower levels of anxiety and improved emotional adjustment. This doesn’t mean that adults always know what to do. In fact, young people typically feel better when adults admit that things can be hard while still being calm and present.

Schools may make kids feel safe by doing things like greeting them by name, having a set schedule that provides the day structure, or having a conversation where a child feels heard without being rushed. These little things can really affect how a student feels about their day. Young people are better equipped to handle stress and believe that they can handle problems when they feel noticed and respected.

A helpful environment doesn’t make problems go away. It helps young people deal with issues by giving them the emotional strength they need.

It’s also crucial to remember that not all young people handle stress this way. Some people may become calm and introverted, while others may be irritable, restless, or have trouble concentrating. People sometimes think these emotions are faults, although they could be indicators that someone is feeling overwhelmed. In my work with young people, I’ve seen that the behavior we witness is frequently just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how they really feel. They may not yet have the vocabulary to explain how they feel.

This variability in how young people handle stress is even clearer among pupils with neurodevelopmental disorders like Autism Spectrum Disorder, who may need routine and predictability to feel safe. Changes that seem small to adults might feel extremely big to these kids. When the situation becomes unexpected, their reactions may become more intense, not because they are less capable. Because they need stability more.

I often remind families and teachers that when the body feels safer, the mind can think more clearly. Small moments of movement, a few slow breaths, or helping a young person focus on what they can see and feel around them can restore a sense of control, even when the situation itself cannot be changed.

When we understand these variations, we remember that helping young people stay healthy doesn’t mean expecting them all to act the same way. It means making places that can suit varied requirements while still being consistent enough for everyone to count on. When teens feel like they belong, they can frequently handle stress better.

When I deal with students and families, I’m often reminded that young people are smarter than we give them credit for. When parents change their habits, or the mood around them gets tense, kids notice. They typically know something is wrong when we try to keep them from having hard talks. They don’t always want an explanation in those circumstances. A sense that the grownups around them are stable.

Over the years, I’ve discovered that how we are with children is more reassuring than what we say. When adults are there for young people, are consistent, and are willing to listen, young people feel less alone with their anxieties. I’ve seen students calm down just because someone took the time to sit with them and listen to what they were going through or to keep a routine when everything else was up in the air. These little moments of connection can help you feel more balanced than explanations can.

These experiences have made me even more sure that mental health should be a part of every conversation about health and education. As debates around the world continue, including those led by the World Innovation Summit for Health, it’s vital to remember that young people become more resilient when they feel safe, connected, and understood when the world around them is hard.

When individuals are under a lot of stress, helping them feel better doesn’t always mean coming up with intricate answers. A lot of the time, relationships, stable surroundings, and communities that understand the emotional needs of kids and teens are what make the biggest difference. Young people are better able to deal with problems they can’t always avoid when they feel protected, heard, and supported.

For health professionals and educators, the goal is to make sure that mental health is always a part of planning, not just during crises. Schools, families, and health systems may work together to make sure that young people still feel safe in a world that is changing quickly.

We say that caring for the emotional lives of young people is not only an educational goal but also a human one that is important for establishing healthier and more resilient societies by making well-being the focus of health conversations.

Chahnaz Baroudi is a Clinical Psychologist at Qatar Foundation. She helps children, teens, and families understand their emotions, manage challenges, and feel supported. She uses therapies like CBT, DBT, and trauma-informed approaches, and works with students with autism and learning differences. She also helps schools create supportive and inclusive environments. Chahnaz is the former President of the Lebanese Psychological Association.

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Healthy Cities is more than a programme. It is a way of thinking about health not as something that begins in hospitals, but as something that is shaped every day by the environments in which people live, learn, work, and grow. On GCC Healthy Cities Day, we celebrate this vision across our region and reflect on how cities can become powerful platforms for health, well-being, equity, and resilience.

For Qatar, the Healthy Cities journey has been a story of steady evolution. Over the past decade, it has moved from a pioneering concept to a nationally embedded approach that brings together municipalities, government entities, academic institutions, and communities around a shared purpose: creating healthier living environments for all. Today, as we go through the re-awarding phase, we are not simply renewing a status; we are reaffirming a long-term commitment to population health, prevention, and sustainable development.

In the GCC context, this matters deeply. Our countries are undergoing rapid urban development, demographic change, and lifestyle transitions. Healthy Cities offers a framework that helps ensure progress is not measured only by infrastructure and economic growth, but by how well our environments support physical activity, mental well-being, social cohesion, environmental sustainability, and inclusive services.

Leadership and governance: the foundation of progress

As Chair of the Healthy Cities Network of Qatar, one of the most striking lessons has been the importance of leadership and governance. Healthy Cities succeeds when it is not seen as a “health project,” but as a shared responsibility across sectors. Municipal leaders, planners, educators, environmental specialists, and social service providers all play essential roles.

The strongest enabler of progress has been cross-sector partnership. When health works hand in hand with urban planning, education, transportation, and social development, we move from isolated interventions to systems change. For example, designing walkable neighborhoods, safe public spaces, accessible schools, and inclusive community facilities contributes as much to health as clinical services do.

Equally important is institutional ownership. Municipalities that embed Healthy Cities principles into their planning processes, governance structures, and performance indicators are the ones that achieve sustainable impact. Healthy Cities is not an additional layer of work; it is a way of strengthening how cities already function.

A child and adolescent health lens: shaping healthier futures

My professional background in community medicine and child and adolescent health has deeply shaped my approach to Healthy Cities. Children and young people remind us that health is built early, long before chronic diseases appear. Healthy habits are learned from an early age when they are reinforced not only by supportive physical environments, but through a concerted and consistent effort between schools, families, and the wider community. It is shaped by safe spaces to play, supportive schools, inclusive environments for children with disabilities, and communities that nurture mental and emotional wellbeing.

Traditional health services, no matter how strong, cannot address these determinants alone. Healthy Cities fills this gap by focusing on the environments that influence development and by strengthening the connections between home, school, and community. It creates conditions where children can thrive physically, socially, and emotionally. It promotes inclusive design, accessible services, and community-based approaches that ensure no child is left behind.

When cities are designed with children in mind, they become healthier for everyone. Safe streets, clean air, green spaces, and strong community networks benefit older adults, families, and people living with chronic conditions just as much as they benefit children.

Education City: a model of a Healthy Education City

Education City stands as a powerful example of how Healthy Cities principles can be applied within a comprehensive educational and community ecosystem. It is not a single campus, but a living, integrated urban space that brings together universities, schools, research institutes, healthcare facilities, student and community facilities, parks, and shared spaces for sports, culture, and social interaction. What makes it a true “Healthy Education City” is its holistic approach to well-being across all these interconnected environments. Health promotion is embedded into urban design, educational settings, healthcare services, research agendas, community engagement, and sustainability initiatives.

It demonstrates how education, health, and community life can reinforce one another. Children, students, families, and professionals move through spaces that promote physical activity, mental well-being, and social connection. Healthcare and research institutions generate evidence that informs policy and practice, while schools and universities help shape lifelong healthy behaviours. Community programmes, green spaces, and recreational areas extend health benefits well beyond formal learning settings and ensure that well-being is integrated into everyday life.

Many elements of this model can be scaled across Qatar and the wider region:

• Integrating health into educational and urban policies and infrastructure
• Promoting active learning environments, walkable spaces, and healthy food settings
• Strengthening mental health and well-being support across educational and community institutions
• Using educational and research institutions as anchors for community health innovation

Education City shows that Healthy Cities is not limited to municipalities or traditional urban governance structures. It is a flexible and scalable model that can be applied to diverse, mixed-use environments where education, healthcare, research, and community life come together to shape healthier societies.

Re-award: challenges and lessons

The re-awarding process is both a moment of reflection and an opportunity for growth. It pushes cities to assess their progress honestly and to identify areas for improvement. Across Qatar, the main learnings tend to fall into four areas: data, governance, community engagement, and sustainability.

Data remains one of the most complex challenges. Measuring well-being, social cohesion, and environmental quality requires strong information systems and inter-sectoral data sharing. However, this challenge is also an opportunity to build smarter, more integrated urban health monitoring systems.

Governance is another key area. Healthy Cities needs clear coordination mechanisms, defined roles, and strong leadership at municipal level. Without this, even well-designed initiatives can lose momentum.

Community engagement is essential but demanding. It requires trust, continuity, and culturally sensitive approaches. Cities must move beyond consultation to true co-creation with residents.

Finally, sustainability means ensuring that Healthy Cities does not depend on individuals or short-term funding, but becomes embedded in policies, budgets, and institutional culture.

Community engagement in Qatar’s cultural context

In Qatar, community engagement works best when it builds on strong family structures, social solidarity, and local identity. Approaches that involve schools, community groups, youth initiatives, and volunteer networks have proven especially effective.

People are more likely to engage when they see themselves as partners rather than beneficiaries. Community ownership transforms Healthy Cities from a government initiative into a collective movement. It ensures continuity and relevance, even as cities grow and change.

Looking ahead: the future of Healthy Cities in Qatar and the GCC

Over the next five to ten years, I see Healthy Cities becoming an even more strategic pillar of urban development in Qatar and across the GCC. Our region faces emerging challenges that make this approach more necessary than ever: climate stress, rising mental health needs, digital transformation, and demographic shifts.

Healthy Cities can respond by:

• Integrating climate resilience into urban design
• Promoting mental health through supportive environments
• Using digital tools to strengthen community participation
• Ensuring inclusive planning for ageing populations and youth

Healthy Cities will increasingly be about resilience, adaptability, and innovation.

A personal reflection

What motivates me most is seeing how small changes in environments can create lasting impact on people’s lives. Whether it is a safer playground, a more inclusive school, or a community programme that brings families together, these moments remind me why this work matters.

Among my most meaningful achievements has been contributing to a shift in how health is understood: from something that happens in healthcare facilities to something that is shaped every day in our cities and communities.

A message for GCC Healthy Cities Day

On this GCC Healthy Cities Day, my message is simple: Healthy Cities is not an aspiration; it is a necessity. It is the foundation of healthier, more resilient, and more equitable societies.

When we invest in healthy environments, we invest in future generations. We create cities that do not only support life, but help it flourish.

Dr. Sadriya Al Kohji is a distinguished Senior Consultant in Community Medicine with a specialization in child and adolescent health. Dr. Al Kohji’s career includes numerous milestones. Her roles within Qatar’s healthcare landscape include leading national initiatives for child and adolescent health, served as the National Lead for Healthy Children and Adolescents National Health Strategy 2, and assuming the role of Assistant Director of Medicine for Child and Adolescent Health in the Primary Health Care Corporation. She is also the Chair of the National Healthy Cities Network of Qatar.

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The workshop builds on the joint WHO-WISH report “In the Line of Fire” and a High‑Level Roundtable organised under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser and with the participation of WHO Director‑General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the WISH7 Summit in November 2024. It is part of a broader sequence of engagements that includes a session co‑hosted with the Central African Republic at the World Health Assembly in May 2025, a public event at the Qatar Pavilion during the Osaka Expo in June 2025, and a high‑level convening with IFRC and UNICEF at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2025.

During the closing session in Geneva, WISH underlined its long‑term commitment to this agenda and confirmed that protection of healthcare in conflict will be a flagship theme under the Global Health Diplomacy track at the next WISH Summit (WISH8), where outcomes and lessons from the workshop will be brought to ministers, diplomats and multilateral leaders.

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You’ve likely seen it, maybe in your own home. A family sits together, but an unusual silence exists. Heads are bowed; eyes fixed on screens. Despite sharing a room, each is lost in a digital world.

Our digital world has reshaped family life. Children now spend hours a day on screens, while parents remain constantly connected to their devices. This constant connectivity comes at a cost: our collective mental health is strained, and the tools designed to connect us often create emotional distance instead. As a parent, I’ve seen technology’s benefits—but also its price: our patience, focus, and presence suffer. The evidence is clear: digital overuse creates patterns of distraction and dependency for both children and adults.

This isn’t about fear, but awareness. At the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), we see this as urgent for the next generation. The real question isn’t whether technology affects mental health, but how we can protect our families in this connected age.

If you’ve ever handed your child a tablet for quiet or caught yourself scrolling aimlessly, you’re not alone. Parents worldwide ask: Is this helping, or quietly harming? It’s not just how much tech we use, but how we use it. Digital tools can educate and connect. But endless, passive scrolling is linked to more anxiety and lower mood. Today’s youngest are growing up with “being online” as the default.

It’s a painful paradox: a teenager, surrounded by digital friends, feels profoundly alone in real life. That slumped posture after scrolling isn’t just a bad mood—it’s a symptom. Studies, such as the JAMA Paediatrics study, confirm that heavy social media use is strongly linked to anxiety, depression, and loneliness in teens. This “compare-and-despair” effect erodes self-esteem as they measure their reality against curated online illusions.

This creates an “isolation paradox,” where platforms designed for connection end up fuelling loneliness. A study by the University of Pennsylvania found that reducing social media use decreased feelings of loneliness and depression. It’s not just our emotions at stake. Apps are engineered to trigger dopamine releases, making each “like” a psychological reward. This conditions the brain to find the digital world more rewarding than the physical one, which is why simply “putting the phone down” feels so difficult. 

Let’s be honest: our children aren’t the only ones absorbed by screens. Parents are equally caught in the digital trap. We tell kids to log off, yet we check work emails during dinner, silently telling them that divided attention is regular. This phenomenon, called “technoference,” occurs when devices interrupt human connection. A parent glued to their phone can make a child feel unseen, sparking attention-seeking behaviour or quiet withdrawal, and ultimately weakening the parent-child bond.

This isn’t just an emotional issue; it’s a physiological one. Many parents turn to screens for a break, only to feel more anxious and stressed. The modern “always-on” work culture blurs the lines between professional and personal life, draining the energy we have for our families. However, reclaiming control can start with simple, intentional acts: silencing notifications at meals, putting phones away after work, or verbally committing, “I’m putting my phone down now; I’m listening.”

This global story has a very local heartbeat. Qatar is a nation where screens illuminate nearly every home. With near-universal internet access and high social media engagement, this connectivity brings both opportunity and pressure.

A joint study by WISH, WISE, DIFI, and HBKU found that high screen time among children and families is linked to increased stress, poor sleep quality, and weaker family communication. Additionally, a 2025 Communications of the ACM study revealed that nearly 30% of parents and adolescents in GCC countries meet the criteria for Internet addiction, which is twice the prevalence found in Europe.

But there’s hope. Qatar’s National Health and Mental Health Strategies (2019–2022) prioritise family well-being in policy. Campaigns for digital literacy, school awareness, and some restrictions on high-risk platforms continue. However, lasting change requires everyone- educators, parents, and policymakers, to collaborate for mindful, culturally rooted digital habits.

Technology’s story need not be one of disconnection. Used with purpose, it can strengthen our bonds. The aim is not to ban devices, but to consciously choose connection—be it a tech-free dinner or a shared activity. Teletherapy shows it can even be a powerful ally for mental health. The solution lies in small, consistent habits. A device-free evening or sustained eye contact rebuilds presence, answering a child’s most profound need: the certainty of our full attention.

Nations worldwide are pioneering solutions to restore our balance with technology. France’s “Right to Disconnect law protects personal time, while Nordic friluftsliv (open-air living) champions nature over screens. Singapore’s Digital for Life movement fosters mindful use, and Canada and the UK are implementing school phone bans. South Korea leads with digital detox camps to combat internet addiction.

The common thread? Well-being thrives not through bans, but through boundaries- supported by education, policy, and cultural commitment.

As a mother and a researcher, I feel this tension daily.   See my child’s face fall over a lack of ‘likes’ and watch family time dissolve into screen time. The scientist in me understands the dopamine-driven loops; the mother in me feels the ache of disconnection.

My work with WISH confirms what parents intuitively know: our devices can quietly erode closeness. But I’ve also witnessed hope. Small shifts—like co-created family tech rules—can restore balance. Then a parent says, “Let’s both put our phones away,” and it builds cooperation, not conflict.

The lesson? The solution isn’t confiscation, but collaboration. From families modelling mindfulness, schools teaching digital literacy, and policymakers designing tech environments that protect mental health. It’s time to move from describing the problem to building human-centred, evidence-based solutions. WISH is committed to leading this charge, turning insight into tangible impact for families everywhere.

If the digital age has taught us anything, it’s that genuine connection is built at home through unplugged dinners and mindful conversations. While unchecked technology reshapes family dynamics and child development, it is not an unstoppable force. Balance can be reclaimed through conscious choices.

Change begins with small choices. Policymakers must advocate for digital literacy, educators for emotional intelligence, and health professionals can identify overuse. Most importantly, parents can demonstrate that focused attention is the purest form of love. Let’s ensure technology strengthens bonds rather than severs them.

Join us at WISH 2026, where mental health and digital well-being will be centre stage. Our goal is not to live offline, but to reconnect deeply with what makes us human.

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