“I see myself really as a public health activist” : a critical analysis of young people’s voices in the National Health Insurance policy submissions

Abstract

Youth engagement in public policy is a widely trumpeted notion supported by participatory democracy as espoused in various legislative and policy instruments. However, the interventions associated with this commitment do not easily produce the progress sought. This can be seen in the concerns that continue to be raised regarding youth participation in development. Targeted at improving health equity, the National Health Insurance (NHI) policy in South Africa is one such venture in which there are low levels of youth participation – with implications for the social reality of young people of today and into the future. Using feminist theory, particularly the concept of ‘systemic silencing’, I interrogate and explore the marginalisation of youth in areas of influence, which evidences their low participation in these critical spaces. The outcome of this project is in unfurling the richness of theorising with and not upon young people.