The long-term health and well-being of adolescents globally can only be achieved if governments and organizations start seeing young people for the unique population they are and addressing their needs accordingly. That means investing in youth-specific interventions but also supporting solutions created by young people themselves, experts, on the sidelines of the United Nations’ General Assembly on 18 September 2022, told a packed room.In New York City, the Clinton Global Initiative together with Fondation Botnar, convened a variety of leaders, advocates, and youth for 1.8 Billion Futures: How to Secure the Long-term Health and Well-Being of Adolescents and Young People Worldwide."The health and well-being of adolescents and youth is critical to achieving broader health equity,” explained Greg Milne, CEO of the Clinton Foundation.Adolescents currently make up a fifth of the population, equating to 1.8 billion people, and if leaders continue to neglect adolescents, the Sustainable Development Goal 3 on good health and wellbeing for all by 2030 won’t be achieved.Various youth representatives told the room of the well-being challenges young people face. They explained how in 2021, over 1.5 million adolescents and young adults (aged 10–24) lost their lives to road traffic injuries, highlighting this issue as one of the biggest causes of death in this age group. Youth leaders also highlighted that mental health disorders typically emerge by the age of 14 and before.Today’s youth are also a generation impacted and troubled by the climate crisis, Rt. Hon. Helen Clark, Former Prime Minister of New Zealand and Board Chair of PMNCH, said in her opening of the event. They have lived through a pandemic, seen technological change, are in an era where there is gender-based violence in the cyber sphere and many are experiencing deepening poverty. This is all impacting young people’s health and well-being and will affect their futures, Clark added.Despite this, less than 1.6% of development assistance for health was dedicated to adolescent health between 2003 and 2015. Clark urged leaders to do better in prioritizing adolescent health and in allocating specific funding for targeted interventions. She also called for the creation of youth-focused indicators to measure progress towards the SDGs and better accountability mechanisms. "We are failing the large majority of young people by not investing in the solutions that are most likely to address their needs," said Jaclyn Schess, a youth activist and founder and CEO of Generation Mental Health, a youth-led nonprofit that aims to build the next generation of leaders in global mental health.But, in the session, Chelsea Clinton, Vice Chair of the Clinton Foundation, announced a variety of tangible commitments several organizations were making in the hopes of improving the health and well-being of young people.Fondation Botnar, for example, pledged $45 million to initiatives that will create safe online environments for young people, enhance civic engagement and make cities safe. Clinton shared how Surgo Health, Pivotal Ventures, and MTV Entertainment Studios’ plan to jointly create a Youth Mental Health Tracker that will capture data to be used in policy advocacy to address the mental health crisis. Ferring International also committed to protecting the lives of 20 million women and their families by 2030 by reducing preventable maternal deaths from postpartum haemorrhage and the Adara Group said it would halve maternal and newborn deaths and stillbirths in low-resource settings. Other organizations that made pledges include the Cotton On Foundation, the Born This Way Foundation, Generation Unlimited, UNICEF, the FIA Foundation, The Wellbeing Foundation Africa, Goleadoras Foundation, One Earth and Mariwala Health Initiative."I'm so thankful to the people on this stage and the many people who work in the organizations that they represent for giving us, yet again, more reasons to be optimistic," Clinton said.Other organizations providing optimism are the many led by young people themselves. "Where you’ll find solutions is on the ground with the young people experiencing these challenges first hand," Schess said. A panel spotlighting the work of young people thus far in addressing their own health challenges in innovative ways, highlighted how young people are oftentimes best placed to create solutions and should always be consulted on issues that affect them."We have new ideas, we have novel ways of thinking," said Gitanjali Rao, a young person, inventor, author, social activist, and stem advocate, who has created Kindly, which uses artificial intelligence to detect cyber bullying.But unless donors and partner organizations step up to support these initiatives, their impact will likely be capped.Rao asked the Fortune 500 business leaders, government officials, leading philanthropists, and nonprofit executives in the room: "Are you bringing them legitimate sources of support that will enable them to take the lead on mental health solutions?"David Imbago, Board Member and Chair of the Youth Constituency of PMNCH, echoed that question and said engagement with youth needs to go beyond simply giving them a seat at the table, but really listening to them and supporting their ideas. "We have a lot to say and a lot of capacity from the passion that fills our advocacy," he said.Imbago shared how the upcoming Global Forum on Adolescents on 11-12 October and the 1.8 billion campaign aim to mobilize more resources so that young people can advance their ideas and have a positive impact in reducing the health challenges of young people today. The event’s overall message, as stated by Rao, was clear: "Believe in youth."