World Health Summit
Professor Susan Sawyer, Director, Centre for Adolescent Health and Professor George Patton, Director of Research, Centre for Adolescent Health, were recent participants in the 3^rd World Health Summit in Berlin in October in a major symposium on adolescent health. Interest in the adolescent and young adult years reflects dynamic changes in the burden of
disease in both younger children and older adults. At one end of the life-course, dramatic improvements in child health have led to growing interest in the  second decade of life – with an appreciation that new investments are needed in adolescence to cement earlier health gains. At the other end of the life-course, the growing burden of non-communicable diseases from behaviours that start in adolescence provides a very different rationale for promoting healthy adolescent development.

The World Health Summit has created an international high-level forum for thought leaders, innovators and change agents in public health policy and life sciences. Attended by governmental representatives, policy makers, non-governmental organisations, social institutions and health-related industries, it aims to initiate cross-sectoral solutions in
response to the complex challenges faced by our increasingly globalised societies.

The symposium on adolescent health was convened by the Centre for Adolescent Health through the University of Melbourne, together with UNICEF and The Lancet. The aim was to consider the scope for translating new understandings of adolescent health into global action. Chaired by Professor Susan Sawyer and Sabine Kleinert, Senior Executive Editor, The Lancet, the four speakers addressed important steps that included the establishment of adequate information systems, the development of structures for governance and
coordination of efforts, and examples of what programs are possible in this emerging field.