Young people use digital spaces to improve access to health and education in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

.For prevention, education, and medico-social actors in France, this article offers concrete examples to reflect on young people's participation in the creation of health content: choice of topics, writing scripts, producing videos, or facilitating exchange spaces. It also shows how digital supports can facilitate dialogue between parents and adolescents on sensitive topics. These experiences conducted abroad serve as sources of inspiration to build a project with young people, rather than ready-to-use models: their adaptation to audiences and the French context remains to be worked on, and the article does not demonstrate their effectiveness.

1️⃣ SUMMARY

This UNESCO article is part of the theme of the International Education Day 2026: the role of youth in the co-creation of education (p. 1). It reports a finding attributed to "recent studies," not referenced: an increase in mental health needs and inequalities in prevention and life skills; in several countries, a lack of reliable information in local languages (p. 2). It presents digital initiatives led by youth in Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, with the support of the UNESCO ITIE and its partners (p. 2). The country of DVOR is not specified (p. 8). The article concludes with a total of over 4 million adolescents and young adults affected, and on the support of the ITIE in training and technical expertise (p. 10).

2️⃣ WHAT TO REMEMBER

1️⃣ Two existing chatbots created by youth. Oilo (Kyrgyzstan, in Kyrgyz) addresses adolescence, emotional well-being, HIV prevention and consent: over 260 000 questions asked (p. 3). Aspan (Kazakhstan, in Kazakh and Russian): over 360,000 youth, over 220,000 questions (p. 3).

2️⃣ An initiative that involves parents. In Armenia, TeensLIVE and ParentsLIVE address bullying, mental health, online safety and reproductive health; young creators write the scripts, appear in the videos and define the publication (p. 4). TeensLIVE reports 1.5 million users, ParentsLIVE 416,000 affected parents (p. 5).

3️⃣ Audience figures whose articulation is not explained — analysis Practices in Health. The article announces that all the initiatives have reached over 4 million adolescents and young adults. It also indicates that TEENS.kg has reached over 5 million users since its launch. These two data points are not directly comparable: the reference periods, the populations counted, any potential duplicates, and the measurement methods are not specified. The article therefore does not allow for reconstructing a consolidated total nor establishing a certain contradiction between these figures. It does not present a structured evaluation of the effects on health, knowledge, or behaviours.

3️⃣ TO ACT

The document presents existing initiatives, but does not constitute a guide for implementation and does not provide operational instructions for its readers. The three suggestions below are suggestions for Health Practices inspired by these examples. The systems are described in foreign contexts; the article specifies that Oilo operates in Kyrgyz and Aspan in Kazakh and Russian. It does not allow for establishing the conditions for using all these resources in France. Their accessibility, languages, suitability for the audiences, and adaptation to the French context must be verified before any use.

1️⃣ Case 2 — chatbots Oilo and Aspan (p. 3). Suggestion Health Practices: study them as examples of health chatbots designed by young people before a conversational tool project. The document does not describe their technical functioning nor their evaluation.

2️⃣ Case 2 — TeensLIVE and ParentsLIVE (p. 4-5). A mother describes watching short videos with her teenage daughter as a way of dialogue (p. 5). Health Practices Suggestion: to rely on this example to think about shared resources for parents and teenagers.

3️⃣ Case 2 — TEENS.kg and DVOR (p. 6-9). Fact sheets, visuals, podcasts, stories (p. 6), publications, comics, meme and Q&A (p. 8). Health Practices Suggestion: to use these formats as examples for a co-production workshop of health content with young people.

4️⃣ 3 PRACTICAL QUESTIONS

1️⃣ Why did these young people create their own tools? The document cites the lack of reliable information in local languages (p. 2), the lack of safe and confidential spaces to discuss (p. 3), and topics that are rarely addressed at school or in families, with reliable resources being scarce (p. 7).

2️⃣ How is the reliability of the content ensured? Oilo is developed "based on evidence" (p. 3); TEENS.kg mixes professional quality content and presentation by young people (p. 7); DVOR prepares its responses with the help of experts (p. 9). The document does not describe a validation procedure.

3️⃣ What role do parents have? Parents participate in the TeensLIVE project (p. 4); ParentsLIVE has reached 416,000 parents (p. 5); a mother reports having found a way to talk about sensitive topics with her daughter (p. 5). No explicit development regarding parents has been identified for other initiatives.

5️⃣ TO GO FURTHER

1️⃣ Health Practices Blog — "Sexuality Education".

2️⃣ External source — 

UNESCO — Youth Report 2024: technologies in education

https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000392856 - This report draws on the views of over 1,500 young people from eight regions of the world to examine the conditions for equitable, adapted, safe and collaborative digital education. It directly extends the article by considering young people as stakeholders in educational choices, and not just as users of tools. For French field actors, it can inform reflection on how to gather their expectations before designing a digital educational project. Resource in French

UNICEF — Initiatives: digital education

https://www.unicef.org/digitaleducation/initiatives This presentation brings together several initiatives, including Oky, an application for education on puberty and reproductive health co-created with and for girls, and FunDoo, a conversational tool offering learning and information, particularly on mental health. It provides complementary examples to those of UNESCO to reflect on formats, languages, and the adaptation of content to the needs of young people. These international initiatives are sources of inspiration, not tools whose use in France would be validated here. Resource in English

UNICEF Innocenti — Digital literacy for children: 10 things you need to know

https://www.unicef.org/innocenti/documents/digital-literacy-children-10-things-you-need-know - This resource explains that digital literacy is not limited to knowing how to use a device: it includes the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to search, learn, participate, and evolve in digital spaces safely and independently. It provides a useful complement to health information projects: making content accessible is not enough; it is also necessary to enable young people to understand and use the information encountered. Resource in English.

6️⃣ #️⃣ HASHTAGS

#healthpractices #YouthHealth #YouthParticipation #PeerEducation #DigitalHealth #Chatbot #HIVPrevention #UNESCO

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