Dr. António Marques Pinto, Vice-Chair of the Health Diplomacy Youth Network (HDYN), recently played an instrumental role in the first in-person meeting of the UNODC Young Doctors Network (YDN), convened in Vienna, Austria (March 2025), on the margins of the 68th Session of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND). This high-level gathering, organized by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), brought together an exclusive cohort of early-career medical professionals selected from across the globe to deliberate one of the most complex and ethically charged challenges in global health governance: ensuring equitable access to internationally controlled medicines while simultaneously preventing diversion and misuse. Internationally recognized as the vanguard of medical and health diplomacy leadership, these individuals are not merely emerging professionals, but the undisputed elite of their generation: young medical leaders already shaping policy, driving innovation, and influencing global health narratives at the highest levels.
The meeting featured in-depth technical exchanges with representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), and UNODC experts and high-level officers (including Ms. Candice Welsch, Director of Policy Analysis and Public Affairs at UNODC), with sessions exploring the regulatory, clinical, and ethical dimensions of drug control conventions in contemporary medical practice. Special emphasis was placed on the structural barriers to adequate pain management, palliative care provision, and the safe and effective use of controlled substances in humanitarian and low-resource settings.
As an active contributor to the proceedings, Dr. António Marques Pinto played a key role in the drafting and delivery of the final joint statement issued by the YDN, which outlined five strategic areas for action: enhancing capacity-building through medical education; promoting independent research on access and diversion; strengthening community engagement in health policy design and implementation; supporting health professionals through digital tools and peer networks; and critically reviewing national policies that, absent scientific basis, hinder the rational and human rights–based use of essential medicines.
More than a technical consultation, the meeting reaffirmed the vital role of youth leadership in redefining the architecture of global health diplomacy. In his interventions, Dr. Marques Pinto underscored the strategic value of elevating youth perspectives from mere consultation to positions of structured influence within multilateral governance. He emphasized that youth inclusion must be recognized not only as a matter of equity, but as a diplomatic asset: indispensable to the renewal, responsiveness, and legitimacy of international health institutions. He highlighted the urgent need for institutional frameworks that elevate youth-led expertise from peripheral consultation to structured influence in multilateral decision-making and indeed reaffirmed the HDYN’s commitment to strengthening the interface between scientific evidence, ethical responsibility, and diplomatic negotiation (three pillars that are indispensable in navigating the XXI century health policy landscape).
The presence of these highly accomplished young physician-leaders (many of whom already occupy key roles in national health systems, international networks, and policy platforms) not only brought credibility and relevance to the international deliberations, but also helped anchor global health diplomacy in lived realities, professional integrity, and intergenerational equity, therefore sending a clear and powerful signal: the next generation is not waiting in the wings but is ready, equipped, and committed to leading the complex negotiations required to secure global health justice.
Caption:
Group photo of the UNODC Young Doctors Network, taken during the 68th Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (Vienna, March 2025). At the center of the image stands Dr. António Marques Pinto, Vice-Chair of the Health Diplomacy Youth Network, to the right of Ms. Candice Welsch, Director of Policy Analysis and Public Affairs at UNODC. Standing at the far right is Dr. Elizabeth Sáenz, Drug Control and Crime Prevention Officer from the Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation Section of UNODC Drug Laboratory and Scientific Services Branch.
