YHP Brazil

Overview: The YHP UNICEF partnership

The Young Health Programme (YHP) and UNICEF partner to support a global movement of young people advocating for healthier lives and the prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Since 2019, the partnership has worked to ensure that adolescent health is prioritised within national systems and policies.

The collaboration is built around three pillars:

  • Awareness: Increasing understanding of NCD risks and protective behaviours.
  • Empowerment: Equipping young people with the knowledge, skills and confidence to shape their health and wellbeing.
  • Action: Supporting youth engagement in policy processes and strengthening systems that enable healthier environments.

In Brazil, this model combines digital innovation, youth leadership and policy engagement to advance adolescent health and promote NCD prevention.

YHP Brazil

Location

Nationwide, with national-level engagement and targeted activity including Maranhão State and participation in policy platforms in Brasília.

 

Timing

2020 - 2030

 

The local context

Brazil faces a growing burden of NCD risk factors among adolescents, including unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, air pollution exposure and the harmful use of alcohol and tobacco.¹ ² These behaviours often begin during adolescence and can persist into adulthood, significantly increasing the risk of developing NCDs later in life.¹

Environmental and social factors further shape these risks. Urbanisation, limited access to healthy food, and exposure to air pollution all contribute to poorer health outcomes for young people.1,3 At the same time, adolescent wellbeing — including mental wellbeing — can influence behaviours such as diet, physical activity and substance use, reinforcing the importance of a holistic approach to prevention.2

Across Latin America and the Caribbean, integrated and youth-centred approaches — including digital platforms — are increasingly being used to promote healthier behaviours and support NCD prevention among young people.4

Our objectives

To strengthen adolescent health and wellbeing in Brazil by:

  • Raising awareness of mental health and NCD risk factors
  • Empowering young people to advocate for improved services and supportive environments
  • Supporting youth participation in national policy dialogue and health system reform.

 

Our focus

  • Supporting adolescent-responsive health services and early prevention approaches within schools, communities and primary healthcare.
  • Empowering young people to lead action on healthier lifestyles, climate resilience and wellbeing.
  • Strengthening youth participation in policy discussions on adolescent health, nutrition and prevention.
  • Expanding digital tools and platforms that provide accessible health information and support for young people.

Our programme

The programme is structured around three interconnected pillars: awareness, empowerment and action.

1. Awareness

The programme increases access to trusted, youth-friendly information on wellbeing and NCD prevention through digital and hybrid platforms.

At its centre is Pode Falar ('Speak Up'), a mental health support initiative that provides confidential guidance and connects young people with appropriate care pathways. The programme also delivers webinars, podcasts, conferences and digital engagement activities addressing topics such as mental wellbeing, the impact of social media and violence, and broader health literacy.

By positioning mental health as foundational to overall wellbeing, the programme addresses behaviours that contribute to long-term NCD risk.

2. Empowerment

The programme builds young people’s leadership and advocacy capacity while strengthening the systems that support them.

Adolescent girls in Maranhão participate in empowerment initiatives and consultation processes that contribute to improvements in local public policies related to adolescent health and wellbeing.

Young people are supported to engage directly in national decision-making platforms, including representation at the National Mental Health Conference.

In parallel, multisectoral professionals complete specialised training in adolescent development and mental health, strengthening service responsiveness and quality of care.

This dual approach ensures both youth voice and institutional capacity are strengthened together.

3. Action

The programme supports structured youth participation in policy reform and system strengthening.

Pode Falar operates as a growing stakeholder network, bringing together universities, NGOs and public and private partners to advance adolescent wellbeing.

Young delegates present formal recommendations to strengthen Brazil’s National Mental Health Policy and Psychosocial Attention Network.

Findings from youth engagement platforms are also shared with the Ministry of Health, contributing to consultation processes for the Adolescents’ Health National Plan.

Through these mechanisms, young people actively shape national policy dialogue and health system reform.

Our achievements (2025)

Raising awareness and supporting healthier lifestyles

  • Reached 43,310 young people through youth-led discussions and engagement on adolescent health, nutrition, climate and wellbeing.
  • Supported 1,173 Adolescent Citizenship Centres, engaging more than 33,181 young people in discussions on health, climate change and collective action.
  • Expanded the National Girls’ Network, mobilising 8,956 adolescents through school and community activities focused on healthy lifestyles, nutrition and gender equality.
  • Through the #EntreNoClima initiative, 21,965 young people participated in environmental health and climate action activities linked to adolescent wellbeing.
  • UNICEF’s Speak Up (Rede Pode Falar) platform provided digital wellbeing resources and support tools to 21,732 young people.

 

Empowering young people to lead change

  • Inspired 65,057 young people to take action on climate, health and wellbeing challenges.
  • Co-developed a national guide for Adolescent-Friendly Units with 30 adolescents, helping create a more standardised and adolescent-responsive care framework within Brazil’s public health system ('Meu SUS').
  • Supported 20,280 professionals to complete a 180-hour course on adolescent development, strengthening capacity to deliver quality support for young people.
  • Enabled young people to participate in national and international climate and health advocacy. This included 50 young people receiving specialist climate action training and 17 youth delegates participating in COP30 in Belém.
  • Supported adolescents to contribute directly to national discussions on adolescent health, women’s rights and climate justice, ensuring youth perspectives informed policy conversations. 

 

Influencing systems and policy action

  • Supported integration of the digital Adolescent Health Booklet into Brazil’s national health records platform, helping make adolescent-responsive health information and prevention guidance more accessible.
  • Helped municipalities strengthen implementation of the national Health in Schools Programme, translating national policy into practical school-based health promotion and prevention activities.
  • Supported implementation of the GAMA framework to identify gaps in adolescent health systems and strengthen monitoring, data quality and policy planning.
  • Contributed to development of adolescent-responsive primary healthcare approaches through the Unidades de Atenção aos Adolescentes (UAAs) National Strategy, helping strengthen screening, counselling and early prevention support for young people.
  • Supported the development of youth-responsive national adolescent health guidelines, ensuring young people’s lived experiences informed priorities for prevention, health promotion and service quality. 

In YHP, a UNICEF accelerator country is a country where the programme is intentionally concentrated and fast-tracked through a deeper partnership with UNICEF country offices. Brazil is one of six accelerator countries where policies or laws have been adopted, updated or upheld through the broader YHP–UNICEF partnership.

Our partner

The Young Health Programme partnership with UNICEF aims to catalyse a global advocacy movement led by young people for the promotion of healthier lifestyles. The focus is on raising awareness of key issues, empowering young people to advocate, and taking policy action to create meaningful and lasting change.

Find out more about UNICEF

Further information

For information on previous YHP Brazil programmes, see:

YHP Brazil - phases 1 (2010-2015) and 2 (2017-2020)

YHP Brazil (2020-2025)

UNICEF does not endorse any company, brand, product or service.

 

References:

1. Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) (2022). Noncommunicable Diseases in the Americas: Facts and Figures.
https://www.paho.org/en/noncommunicable-diseases

2. World Health Organization (WHO) (2023). Adolescent health – Key facts.
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-health

3. World Health Organization (WHO) (2021). Air pollution and child health: prescribing clean air.
https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/air-pollution-and-child-health

4. UNICEF (2021). The State of the World’s Children 2021: On My Mind – Promoting, protecting and caring for children’s mental health.
https://www.unicef.org/reports/state-worlds-children-2021