Synopsis: Adolescents remain a vulnerable population within the global obesity epidemic. Accurate data on obesity transitions are required to inform effective policy and programming for adolescent health. To effectively set global and national targets for adolescent obesity beyond the maturation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) we leverage established methods from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study, and report estimated prevalence of overweight and of obesity for adolescents (15-24 years) in 204 countries and territories. We do this from 1990 to 2021, with forecasts to 2050, under a reference scenario representing a probabilistic forecast of the most likely future. In this seminar we will discuss global trends and trends across the Asia-Pacific region.
Speakers: Dr Jessica Kerr & Professor Dorothea Dumuid
Dr Jess Kerr is mid-career research fellow in adolescent population health and non-communicable disease epidemiology with joint appointments at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) and the University of Otago (New Zealand). She is also an Honorary Research Fellow with the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Melbourne. Dr Kerr is an investigator on several longitudinal population-based cohort studies and is a senior collaborator with the Global Burden of Disease Study. Using these resources, her research focuses on obesity and non-communicable disease risk across the entire developmental window from infancy to young adulthood, with expertise in obesity burden, epidemiology, and associated disease outcomes. Focus has also been paid to child and adolescent nutrition, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular risk, and premature mortality.
Professor Dorothea Dumuid is a behavioural epidemiologist at the University of South Australia and an Honorary Research Fellow at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. Her research focuses on the behavioural factors influencing non-communicable diseases, with particular emphasis on how people spend their time. By examining daily activities such as sleep, screen time, and exercise, she seeks to identify the optimal balance for promoting overall health and wellbeing. Given the constraints of just 24 hours in a day, her work develops analytical models that help determine how to balance these activities to support not only specific aspects of health, but a holistic approach to wellbeing.
Time: 1:00 to 2:00 pm AEDT
Date: 13th of March 2025
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Advancing Adolescent Health in the Asia Pacific: A virtual community to share knowledge and support collaboration
Despite one in two of the world’s adolescents living in the Asia-Pacific region, adolescent health is a relatively new field of endeavour in Australia as well as the region. It is a field that spans policy makers from multiple sectors, researchers from different disciplines, and practitioners working in health services, schools and communities and encompasses a multitude of health topics and concerns. Despite this, there are few opportunities to come together to share, showcase and build capacity to improve adolescent health and wellbeing in the region.
This seminar series aims to provide opportunities for researchers, policy makers, practitioners, implementers, young advocates – indeed, anyone interested in the health and wellbeing of adolescents – to enhance their understanding of adolescent health and wellbeing, with a focus on research.
This series is supported by the Centre of Research Excellence for Driving Global Investment in Adolescent Health. Led by a team at the Centre for Adolescent Health, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, it brings together leading Australian research groups including the University of Melbourne, Burnet Institute, University of New South Wales, University of Queensland, University of South Australia, and the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute.
Read more about the series here
