From Advocacy to Action in Global Adolescent Health.
In May 2016, The Lancet published a report titled, "Our Future: A Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing," the culmination of three years of work from a geographically diverse interdisciplinary group. The report argued that healthy growth across adolescence and young adulthood shapes life course and intergenerational trajectories so that health investments yield a "triple dividend." With current global interest in adolescent health at an unprecedented level, it outlines three next steps to advance from advocacy to effective action: (1) there is a pressing need for comprehensive and integrated strategies, inclusive of, but extending beyond, sexual and reproductive health, and HIV; (2) interventions should address both adolescent health service coverage and determinants of health that lie in sectors such as education, justice, transport, and industry and employment, as well as families and local communities; and (3) scale-up of responses will require not only investments in country-level capacities for measuring need and responding with evidence-based practice but also the establishment of processes for accountability and meaningful youth engagement.
Centre for Adolescent Health, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia; Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. Electronic address: george.patton@rch.org.au.
George C
GC
Patton
Centre for Adolescent Health, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia; Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
Susan M
SM
Sawyer
Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
David A
DA
Ross
Institute of Child Health, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
Russell M
RM
Viner
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, New York.
John S
JS
Santelli
D000293:Adolescent; D000067697:Adolescent Health; D016497:Adolescent Health Services; D000328:Adult; D014943:Global Health; D006801:Humans; D060728:Reproductive Health; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D055815:Young Adult
Adolescent; Global health; Young adult