Home to around 253 million adolescents, India will host the World Congress on Adolescent Health this year from October 27-29. Billed as the biggest global event in adolescent health, it is held once every four years and the International Association for Adolescent Health’s 11th World Congress will be organised on the theme — ‘Investing in Adolescent Health the Future is Now’. The world is home to 1.2 billion adolescents, and India has the largest population of adolescents in the world — 253 million — with every fifth in the world being an Indian and every second being an Asian, Professor Susan Sawyer, President of the International Association for Adolescent Health, said.
“India has been chosen as the venue for the conference as it has the largest number of adolescents in the world. Policies in India are changing in favour of adolescents. “When IAAH started in Australia 30 years ago as a resource to help build capacities in the field of adolescent health, we had people only from high-income countries, but now there is participation from across the world,” Sawyer said here.
Over 1,000 delegates from 65 countries across the world will share their experiences and learnings during the conference. The World Congress seeks to cover issues like ‘Global adolescent health: Opportunities and challenge’, ‘Toward a gendered approach to adolescent health’, ‘Mental health and adolescents’ and ‘Social media, sexting, addiction, Oh My! Adolescent Health in the Digital Age’.
There will be debates on topics, including the need for parents’ consent in their child’s clinical care or participation in health research and the role of brain imaging in adolescent care and health promotion. Dr Sunil Mehra, Executive Director, MAMTA Health Institute for Mother and Child, said, “It is an appropriate time to choose India as the venue for the conference since the country is faced with challenges such as early marriage, early pregnancies, malnutrition and obesity and violence.” The event is being organised with the support of the Ministry of Health and MAMTA Health Institute for Mother and Child is hosting the World Congress with a consortium of partners.
