November 25, 2024 — Toby Le says too often young voices aren’t heard when it comes to health policies that will affect them now and long into the future. Over the past year, he’s been working hard to make a change.
Le, a PhD candidate in medical microbiology and infectious diseases at the Max Rady College of Medicine, recently completed a term as Canada’s Youth Delegate to the World Health Assembly and the Pan American Health Organization Directing Council.
In this role, he brought together youth from across Canada to share their thoughts on important global health issues. “I’m driven by the idea that youth perspectives bring fresh ideas and energy to issues affecting our future,” he said. “We bring real, lived experiences and new ideas that are too often overlooked.”
Le, 27 when he started the project, led 16 roundtable discussions across Canada, hearing from over 200 youth about key issues like mental health, pandemic preparedness and health equity. Their input is now part of a final peer-reviewed publication released November 25.
He hopes the upcoming report will help push governments to get young people more involved in health policy.
“The past year has taught me that we have so much talent among Canadian youth that is yet to be leveraged,” Le said. “If we can do that, the possibilities and solutions it can offer are infinite.”
Le’s commitment to global health started back in his undergrad years with a research project in Tanzania and Kenya, where he worked on a social enterprise effort that used probiotics to boost nutrition.
The project gave local women a way to make and sell probiotic foods, helping them earn a steady income and support their families. “Those four months changed my life,” he said. “It was incredible to see that community-centered research could create real, immediate change.”
“Toby’s work is a powerful example of what can happen when students go beyond the classroom and out into the field,” said Dr. Peter Nickerson, vice-provost (health sciences) and dean of the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences. “Involving youth in community-driven research like this not only fosters inclusivity, but also has real-world impact, benefiting communities and contributing to meaningful global health solutions.”
As a youth delegate, Le ensured that roundtables represented Canada’s diversity, pulling together a team of youth advisors from all over the country. Together, they organized discussions on top health issues for Canadian youth today, like Indigenous health priorities, access to mental health services and environmental health concerns.
For Le, one of the most powerful moments happened during a roundtable with Indigenous youth where participants talked about the many obstacles they face in getting health care and how they often feel overlooked in their encounters with different Canadian institutions.
“It was a bittersweet experience—heartbreaking to hear their stories but rewarding to provide a space where they felt heard,” he said. “There’s so much we have to address in terms of health equity.”
Le is still working on his PhD, but he’s planning on a career that combines his love for research with community work. “I want a career that allows me to bring people together to solve real-world challenges,” he said. “This work has shown me what’s possible when we don’t try to tackle complex issues alone, and I’m excited to build a future with that approach in mind.”
To read the report, visit: https://journals.mcmaster.ca/ghar/issue/view/216
