Medizinische Sicherheit und globale Gesundheit
Offener Zugang
ISSN: 2574-0407
ISSN: 2574-0407
Dr. Priyanga Poomani Karpagam
Adolescence is described as a period of painful and complex transitions, involving drastic changes in physical appearance, personality, emotions and social behaviour due to a sudden awareness of one's sexuality. Declining academic performance, overreaction to criticism, the cognitive theory of depression, voluntary withdrawal from family and low self-esteem are relatively predisposing factors for severe depression and subsequent suicidal thoughts in adolescents. While unintentional injuries, road traffic accidents, interpersonal violence, substance abuse, sexually transmitted infections and childhood diseases are the most compelling risk factors for deteriorating adolescent health, complications during early pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death. An estimated 11% of all births worldwide are to girls aged 15-19 years, predominantly from countries with low to middle socioeconomic status. Adolescent pregnancies are to blame for limiting future opportunities and squashing the potential of young women. Formulating recommendations to the government on adolescent health and providing quality, age-appropriate adult health services is extremely important. According to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG-3), it is mandatory to ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health services, family planning, information, education and integration of reproductive health into national health strategies by 2030. Establishing promotion, prevention, cure, referral and tracing services, regular health check-ups and communication camps with assurance of confidentiality are the most common methods used in dealing with adolescents.