Global gains in infant and child survival have resulted in greater appreciation of the importance of taking the health and wellbeing of adolescents more seriously; the tremendous reduction in mortality globally in the 1-5 year age group has not been replicated to the same extent in 10-24 year olds. Furthermore, globalisation has changed the nature of health concerns in the young, with a significant proportion of deaths due to road traffic accidents, violence, mental disorder and HIV/AIDS throughout the world, including low and middle income countries. The extent that so many of these deaths are preventative is a challenge to policy responses, which will be complex, ranging from aspects of health care services (eg adolescent friendly health services) and clinical capacity building to population policies focused on prevention that must equally involve sectors outside of health such as education.
The International Association of Adolescent Health is an organisation representing country level associations of adolescent health. It convenes a world congress every 4 years. The 9th World Congress on Adolescent Health was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from October 28-30th with the theme of “Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health; Public Issues, Private Lives”. Held in conjunction with the Malaysian Paediatric Association’s annual scientific meeting, the congress attracted over 770 delegates from 44 countries. An exciting level of energy resulted from the plenary presentations, concurrent sessions and youth commentary and debate that formed the meeting.
Dr Willard Cates (USA) set the tone of the meeting in the opening plenary address by talking about the importance of sexuality education, highlighting the critical failure of abstinence-only approaches to sex education. In framing adolescent sexuality as an integral aspect of human life, he challenged delegates to appreciate positive aspects of sexuality, rather than solely focusing on the more common risk paradigm.
Other highlights were Marcus Stahlhofer, a human rights lawyer with WHO, who in his plenary helped to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child by contextualising the importance of human rights to adolescent health. He challenged governments and policy makers to work more collaboratively with health organisations to implement international and local laws that would promote young people’s access to the breadth of health services that they are legally entitled to.
Michael Furdyk (Canada) used his own story in developing TakingITGlobal, an electronic global community working to increase youth civic engagement, whose many programs aim to get students more engaged in global issues – these programs have reached over 15 million youth since 2000. It was an exciting example of how digital media and technology can be used globally for health promotion and education.
Using a very different format to the standard plenary lecture, the delightful Dr Narimah Awinn was interviewed by an equally charming Professor Michael Resnick (USA) in a wonderful conversation that explored the breadth of her advocacy in the Malaysian Ministry of Health in support of adolescent health. Described by Professor Resnick as the equivalent of a ‘national treasure’, one legacy of her efforts is the ongoing energy and focus on adolescent health that is embodied in the Malaysian Association for Adolescent Health and the Malaysian Paediatric Association.
Finally, Professor George Patton (Australia) presented powerful data on global patterns of adolescent mortality that helped frame the importance of research in moving the field forward (see Patton GC et al. Global patterns of mortality in young people: a systematic analysis of population health data. Lancet 2009;374:881-92).
Professor Lyn Bearinger (USA) has been appointed as the new President of the International Association of Adolescent Health, taking over from Ueli Buhlman from Switzerland. Lyn is a professor of adolescent health from the University of Minnesota and a longstanding advocate of youth health globally. It is exciting to see her interest in developing the strategic role of IAAH in being a strong voice for adolescent health globally (see www.iaah.org).
Professor Susan Sawyer
Chair, Scientific Committee, 9th World Congress on Adolescent Health
(Director, Centre for Adolescent Health, Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne Australia)