adolescents

Apr

2024

Join the Scientific & Abstract Review Committees for the 13th IAAH World Congress on Adolescent Health

The International Association for Adolescent Health’s 13th World Congress will be held in Jamaica on November 6-8, 2025. IAAH is looking for volunteers to assist with developing and refining keynote, plenary sessions, workshops, and symposia sessions, and youth participation activities, as well as persons to help with reviewing submitted abstracts and workshop proposals.

You are invited to share your experience, knowledge, and expertise by joining the Scientific and/or Abstract Review Committees. Committees will be asked for written input several times over the coming months, and will have 3 or 4 conference calls or webinar meetings for these committees over the next 18 months as a part of program planning.

Please click here to complete the survey to sign up for these important committees.

May

2022

22nd IAAH European Regional Conference – Youth Development Challenges in the post-COVID-19 era, 5-7 October 2022

The 22nd International Association for Adolescent Health (IAAH) European Regional Conference “Youth Development Challenges in the post-COVID-19 era” will be held in Athens, Greece on October 5th-7th, 2022. It is locally organized by the Greek/Hellenic Society for Adolescent Medicine (GSAM) and mainly focuses on youth development during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Topics

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on youth physical and mental health, education, development and overall well-being may raise dilemmas in the management and the control of immediate or long-term consequences. Action through multidisciplinary approaches is required and knowledge of physical and psychosocial aspects, as well as possible aetiological factors, burden of co-morbidities, prevention and treatment options, as well as counselling and support strategies are prerequisites for every effort of controlling the situation and will constitute the main core of the scientific programme. Formal and non-formal education, youth-friendly services and safe digital spaces that help young people make healthier choices and develop healthy relationships, are also a topic of great interest in this conference.

An update on other important Adolescent Medicine topics, such as nutrition, vaccination, skin conditions, contraception, sports medicine, etc. will be presented.

Participants

Medical doctors of different specialties, other health professionals and specialists e.g., psychologists, social workers, educators, dieticians, physical fitness experts, etc. are welcome to participate and contribute to the works of the IAAH conference by exchanging experience and expertise, as well as difficulties encountered in different countries.

Format of the conference

Interactive workshops, symposia, round tables will take place and experts will present key topics in plenary sessions. Oral and poster presentations will highlight novel research ideas. Youth participation during the conference will enrich discussions and debates.

The deadline for the submission of abstracts is on June 10th, 2022.

For abstract submission and more information please see the conference website.

Dec

2021

4th IAAH MENA Region Adolescent Health Conference – Declaration

The 4th IAAH (International Association for Adolescent Health) MENA (Middle East and North Africa) Region Adolescent Health Conference was held from 1-3 December 2021 in Hurghada, Egypt.

Theme

The main theme of the conference was: “Adolescent Care, Leaving No One Behind”. The conference aimed to break the silence around the unmet needs of the large and increasing group of disadvantaged adolescents in the Middle East and North Africa region who are chronically ill or disabled, belong to an ethnic minority, live in a disadvantaged socio-economic environment or are displaced due to political violence. It also emphasized that investing in the health, development and well-being of adolescents in general is the most cost-effective investment a nation can make for the future.

Declaration

The declaration of the conference reminds states of the necessity to systematically strengthen health systems, while ensuring a multi-sectoral approach, so as to encompass the socio-ecological determinants of adolescent health. It also emphasizes the life course perspective to health and that failing to address adolescents’ health needs will inevitably impact future adult health and subsequent generations. The declarations calls to:

Acknowledge adolescence as a distinct period in life.
Adopt equity-based policies and strategies that are inclusive of all adolescents.
Recognize the fact that learning, education, and health are deeply intertwined, and therefore, through strong collaborations between Ministries of Health and Education, support each and every school to be a health promoting center.
Capitalize on all settings of adolescent learning (formal, non-formal, and informal) to integrate aspects of health promotion and prevention.
Take active measures to educate adolescents about sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in formal, informal, non-formal education, and work settings and in manners that are culturally sensitive.
Recognize that adolescents and youth are true change agents and genuinely involve them in active and transformative participation.
And more…

More information: Conference website

Dec

2021

4th IAAH MENA Region Adolescent Health Conference – contributions UNESCO Chair

The 4th IAAH (International Association for Adolescent Health) MENA (Middle East and North Africa) Region Adolescent Health Conference, organized by the Arab Coalition for Adolescent Health & Medicine (ACAHM), was held from 1-3 December 2021 in Hurghada, Egypt. The conference was held under the patronage of the League of Arab States and attended by 190 participants from 38 countries and 15 International and Regional organizations.

Theme

UNESCO Chair contributions

Didier Jourdan gave a keynote speech on the theme: Supporting every community and every school to become a foundation for healthy lives. He addressed the following five ideas:

Education and Health are mutually intertwined
Learning for Health and Well-being
Creating a safe, inclusive and healthy learning environment
Political and strategic levers for change
Building school’s capacity to become a foundation for healthy lives

Download the PPT

Didier Jourdan, MinChien Tsai and Silvia de Ruiter led a plenary workshop on Genuine Participation of adolescents. During the workshop they shared why genuine participation is critical for the success of health interventions, provided country examples and introduced the roadmap for a global collaboration “nothing about them, without them”.

Download the PPT

More information: Conference website

Sep

2021

Involve children and young people in assessing the impact of school closures on their wellbeing and developing strategies for post-COVID-19 schooling

Article published in MDPI on 5 September 2021

Nearly 200 countries have implemented school closures to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. Although these closures have seemed necessary, there have been serious concerns about their effects on the well-being of children and adolescents. To truly understand the impact of these closures on children’s and adolescent’s well-being, and their suggestions for the future, it is important to adopt new approaches to collecting data that will ensure the right of children and adolescents to be heard on issues that affect them.

Current methods of assessing the impacts of school closure are dominated by the collection of information about children and adolescents, mainly using existing wellbeing indicators and related questionnaire surveys. While these sources of information are important, they provide only a limited understanding of how children and adolescents have experienced school closure, especially if they have been produced using measures developed solely by adults. There is a need for information produced by children and adolescents themselves, which may need to go beyond existing theoretical frameworks of wellbeing that predate COVID-19.

By gathering information from children and adolescents, the authors of this paper[1] show that we can more effectively guide the development and evaluation of public health policies and identify solutions to mitigate the negative impacts of school closures, or to recognise and respond to any positive effects.

Read the article

[1] Paakkari, L., Jourdan, D., Inchley, J., & Torppa, M. (2021). The Impact of School Closure on Adolescents’ Wellbeing, and Steps toward to a New Normal : The Need for an Assessment Tool Update? Adolescents, 1(3), 360‑362. https://doi.org/10.3390/adolescents1030027

Jun

2021

Making every school a health-promoting school

Virtual meeting organised by WHO and UNESCO – 22 June 2021 13.00 – 14.00 CEST

The health, well-being and education of children and young people are closely intertwined. With a vision that every school around the world becomes a Health-Promoting School (HPS), UNESCO and the World Health Organization (WHO) have developed a joint initiative to support Member States strengthen the health promoting function of education systems.

This global launch will feature the introduction of the initiative and present a newly-developed guidance package consisting of four publications:

Global standards and indicators for health-promoting schools and systems;
Implementation guidance;
Country case studies; and
Guideline for school health services.

Global and country-level stakeholders, including representatives from government and school communities will present their perspectives and experiences in implementing school health and health-promoting school approaches.

The event will be available in English, French, Arabic and Spanish.

Agenda

Statements by the Directors General of WHO and UNESCO (TBC)
Presentation: Towards global standards for health-promoting schools for all
Roundtable 1: Voices from the school community
Roundtable 2: Perspectives of national policymakers
Roundtable 3: Perspectives of development partners
Conclusion and closing remarks

For more information contact: healthpromotion@who.int

To register: https://who.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2tS0XUbFSra_2-YOJBWNQg

Jun

2021

Article: Co-operation and consistency: a global survey of professionals involved in reopening schools during the COVID-19 pandemic

During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, schools closed in haste and were expected to create virtual learning opportunities for their students while they waited to see when and how they might re-open. National governments issued reopening guidance at varying speeds. The purpose of the study described in this article [1] was to invite health and education professionals to share what was happening in their country about school reopening in terms of the features and implications of the guidance issued. A semi-structured questionnaire was distributed through the global community of UNESCO Chair ‘Global Health and Education’ and partner organisations.

There were 192 useable responses from 43 countries and territories and 1 multi-country region. 20 of these, mainly in the Global North, had received reopening guidance, 23 were still waiting and 1 had not closed its schools. Guidance prioritised public health measures like social distancing, with less emphasis on education impacts. Success came from partnerships between schools, families and local authorities, consistent guidance and enough time and resources for implementation. Fear of infection led to significant absenteeism among students and staff. Respondents waiting for guidance, mainly in the Global South, shared similar concerns and expectations.

Access the full article.

[1] Gray, N.J. and Jourdan, D. (2021), “Co-operation and consistency: a global survey of professionals involved in reopening schools during the COVID-19 pandemic”, Health Education, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/HE-07-2020-0054

Mar

2021

Webinar – Exploring Global Inequalities in Adolescent Health and Healthcare

On 25 March 2021 from 13.00 – 14.00 CET, the interactive webinar “Exploring Global Inequalities in Adolescent Health and Healthcare” will take place. The webinar is organised by the UNESCO Chair and WHO Collaborating Center Global Health & Education as part of the International Adolescent Health Week, in collaboration with the International Association for Adolescent Health, the EUPHA section on Child and Adolescent Public Health. The webinar will be held in English.

Our world is home to the largest generation of adolescents ever. Our future global success and prosperity depends on their sustained health and wellbeing. And yet the amount of investment in adolescent health is traditionally very low. This forms the backdrop to a range of health inequalities, and yet the adolescent population has arguably had the least attention of all age groups on this topic. For many disadvantaged, deprived and discriminated youth, health system accessibility and utilization are substantially and unacceptably lower compared to the general population. To increase health system accessibility and utilization in underserved communities, barriers must be removed. In this webinar, examples of underserved communities are presented, as well as possible solutions to make global health systems available, acceptable and affordable for every adolescent.

The webinar will start with an introduction from Professor Sir Michael Marmot, Professor of Epidemiology, University College London; Director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity. The experts Professor Susan Sawyer, president International Association for Adolescent Health, The University of Melbourne, Australia and Associated professor Danielle Jansen, immediate past president EUPHA Section on Child and Adolescent Public Health, University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG), the Netherlands, will then address the following questions:

What do we know about global inequalities in adolescent health outcomes?
Which health service barriers linked to health inequalities do adolescents experience in Europe?
How can we use this knowledge to redesign healthcare systems to minimise adolescent health inequalities?

Link to join the webinar

More information

Mar

2021

International Adolescent Health Week

International Adolescent Health Week, celebrated the 3rd full week in March yearly, is a grass-roots initiative for young people, their health care providers, their teachers, their parents, their advocates and their communities to come together and celebrate young people and with an ultimate goal of working collectively towards improving the health and well-being of the over 1 billion adolescents across the globe today.

The Mission of International Adolescent Health Week is to inspire adolescents and their communities to advocate for a successful transition into adulthood. It is based on the idea that small actions by many people working together create big changes.

Lime green is the official colour of International Adolescent Health Week.

International Adolescent Health Week is supported by members of the Society of Adolescent Health and Medicine and the International Association of Adolescent Health.

The UNESCO Chair supports and participates in the International Adolescent Health Week, with the organisation of two events

La santé au quotidien dans les établissements scolaires (Everyday Health in Schools), interactive webinar (in French), on 24 March at 18.00-19.00 (CET)
Exploring Global Inequalities in Adolescent Health and Healthcare, interactive webinar (in English), on 25 March at 13.00-14.00 (CET)

Feb

2021

The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health – Podcast

In Conversation With… Didier Jourdan & Nicola Gray

Didier Jourdan & Nicola Gray join The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health Editor-in-chief Jane Godsland to discuss how and why child health professionals should be supporting schools to become the foundation of a healthy life.

Didier Jourdan & Nicola Gray are the lead authors of the viewpoint “Supporting every school to become a foundation for healthy lives” which was published in the Lancet on Friday 22 January 2021

Listen to the podcast

Read the viewpoint article

adolescents

Join the Scientific & Abstract Review Committees for the 13th IAAH World Congress on Adolescent Health

22nd IAAH European Regional Conference – Youth Development Challenges in the post-COVID-19 era, 5-7 October 2022

Topics

Participants

Format of the conference

4th IAAH MENA Region Adolescent Health Conference – Declaration

Theme

Declaration

4th IAAH MENA Region Adolescent Health Conference – contributions UNESCO Chair

Theme

UNESCO Chair contributions

Involve children and young people in assessing the impact of school closures on their wellbeing and developing strategies for post-COVID-19 schooling

Making every school a health-promoting school

Virtual meeting organised by WHO and UNESCO – 22 June 2021 13.00 – 14.00 CEST

Agenda

Article: Co-operation and consistency: a global survey of professionals involved in reopening schools during the COVID-19 pandemic

Webinar – Exploring Global Inequalities in Adolescent Health and Healthcare

International Adolescent Health Week

The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health – Podcast

- What is a UNESCO chair

- Values and principles

- Activities

- An open community

- Organization

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