Praxis, power, and processes: youth participation in health policy – a response to recent commentaries

Abstract

We are appreciative of the opportunity to further engage in critical discussions and to advance the knowledge on youth participation in health policy processes, by providing a response to commentaries on our paper, “Between rhetoric and reality: learnings from youth participation in the Adolescent and Youth Health Policy (AYHP) in South Africa.”1 The commentaries by Njelesani & Hunleth2, Prati & Albaseni,3 and O’Connell & Botchway4 all add valuable reflections and contributions in addressing the gap between rhetoric and reality of youth participation, the key theme explored in our paper. We highlight the main threads across our paper and the three commentaries in the sections below focusing on interrelated elements of praxis, power and policy processes.