The international surveys contribution to public health goes beyond serving comparable data for evidence based policies. The WHO collaborative study “Health Behaviour in the School-aged Children (HBSC)” was established in 1983 and serves as an example for adolescent health in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). While only three CEE countries joined the HBSC network in the 1980s and only five more in the 1990s, this network now covers all 29 CEE countries with the exception of five countries (Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Tajikistan, Turkemenistan). The research output of CEE authors using HBSC data is also growing rapidly. While in the 1980s and 1990s, only one or two such articles were listed in the Social Science Citation Index, since 2015 there have been an average of 25 such articles per year, and most of them have been published in public health journals.

In most Central and Eastern European countries, the HBSC study provided the first opportunity to investigate the health of adolescents and build research capacity in this area. Prior to the HBSC study, the health and well-being of adolescents was under-researched and often narrowly understood as the absence of physical disabilities or an objectively measurable physical condition. The HBSC study has given both researchers and practitioners a broader perspective on adolescent health.

The researchers of the HBSC research network have managed to combine continuous analysis of a number of issues with the inclusion of new questions in the questionnaire, which reflect on the problems and lifestyle of the contemporary youth. In this respect, the HBSC research is unique in the world. It is a lively, constantly evolving project, open to new concepts (often initiated from the bottom up) supporting the participation of young scientists. Members of the HBSC network react immediately to contemporary challenges. An example of this is the interest in the importance of electronic media in the life of young people, which was the leading theme of the 2017/18 round. A number of interesting optional packages were implemented, and their usefulness was immediately tested internationally (such as health literacy and spiritual health). Currently, attempts are being made to conceptualise and operationalise issues such as social functioning and learning in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic or environmental health and youth involvement in climate protection.

Working together on protocols, collecting comparable data and analysing it together stimulated the building of research capacity across the countries and resulted in high quality datasets which became the only system for monitoring adolescent health in many CEE countries. By nature, HBSC initiates, stimulates and results in stakeholder engagement. This study used to be coordinated by the Public Health Authorities, but keeping intensive collaborations with the Academia which is a huge stimulus for policy based research and creates a strong ground for evidence based policies. When resources are limited, the network might boost the capacity, and in this case the research as well as the policy-making capacity.

Comparability of the data, networking and collaboration helps to step out of CEE or Western Europe or any other regional bubble and it enables very important cross-fertilisation. The HBSC study gives a unique opportunity for reasonable international comparisons that appeal to both researchers and policymakers. It is much valued to know adolescents’ lives both in the East and West, the South and the North. We appreciate the freedom to get the information, share the knowledge, and participate in the whole HBSC family’s broader community to make our adolescents’ life better. One such example might be the new WHO strategy for child and youth health development developed in collaboration within the network, and from which CEE countries can learn about the priority areas and suggested actions. Another very valuable outcome of HBSC is the movement towards youth engagement, which will not be possible without cross-fertilisation and joint efforts within the network.

The CEE region faces significant depopulation due to the collapse of birth rates, economic migration and the exodus of young people. The consequences are the shrinking of the younger generation, the ageing and depletion of the resources of the entire region, the decline of the region. Many young people experience negative childhood experiences due to changes in family structure, precarious working conditions of their parents, poverty or because they are left behind when their parents work abroad. We need to know how much the adolescent population in CEE is affected by these adversities and what could help young people to cope with them. This might require a shift of attention to the older youth and young adults as well as the focus on healthy maturation to adulthood.