Resources

Adolescent health and nutrition are increasingly being linked to social and structural determinants including climate change, globalization, urbanization, and technical development that drive changing lifestyles. For this reason effective health responses are often multilevel and multi-component with coordination across sectors. They include population-based policies to address drivers of major disease burden in adolescents and programs targeting adolescents and school-age children in education settings (e.g. health promoting schools). This document details the actions required to promote adolescent well-being and health. Some proposed actions include strengthening health systems to deliver on conditions that are sensitive to timely interventions by health services, such as mental health problems, sexual and reproductive health needs, malnutrition and communicable diseases. Multilevel responses to adolescent health and nutrition can be enacted through a national coordination platform to oversee efforts across sectors and government ministries.  It also recommends bringing in accountability mechanisms to assess the effects on well-being accompanied by a national vision for child and adolescent well-being. This is a useful resource for policy makers.  Click here to read the report.