Bold Ideas for Brighter Futures: Conference on Global Child and Adolescent Mental Health Innovations and Progress towards the SDGs

Mental health is essential for overall health, well-being, and quality of life for children, youth and families. It is also key for realizing prosperity in our societies.

Mental health has been prioritized in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with targets to promote mental health and reduce suicide mortality.There are over two billion children and adolescents on the planet. An estimated one in seven have a mental disorder, and self-harm is the fifth leading cause of death for adolescents.

Global action for child and adolescent mental health has been slow, with barriers like a lack of empirical data on how best to support youth, and lack of resources including trained professionals.

Innovative evidence-based ideas are needed to improve mental health of the young, here in Sweden and globally.The 2023 Karolinska-UNICEF Joint Conference on “Bold Ideas for Brighter Futures: Child and Adolescent Mental Health Innovations and Progress towards the SDGs” will bring together leading scientific researchers, global experts, public mental health practitioners, state and local actors, international organizations, civil society, innovators, youth advocates and other stakeholders.Over 100 participants are anticipated to share novel approaches, best practices, inspire learning and collaboration, and present latest research findings.

Proposed themes of the two-day conference include: Scaling up Services Safely, Generating Responsible Data on Children, Creative Approaches in Schools and Communities, and Engaging Youth in Program Design.The conference organizing is led by Karolinska Institute and UNICEF, with partners from Swedish Institute for Global Health Transformation, War Child, Nätverk för Global Psykisk Hälsa, and Swedish universities.

These organizations support this conference to bring together leading minds and promote bold ideas to improve mental health of children and adolescents in Sweden and globally.