The Importance Of Addressing The Health And Development Needs Of Adolescents

Addressing genderbased violence, child abuse neglect and ensuring a supportive environment in early childhood will help children to achieve optimal physical, social and emotional development. These will also help avoid risky behaviors and a significant burden of disease, including mental health disorders and substance use later in life. Changing behaviour now brings major health benefits later – It is essential to address the health and development needs of adolescents if they are to make a healthy transition to adulthood. Promoting potentially harmful behaviours in relation to sex, tobacco and alcohol use, diet and physical activity, as well as provide adolescents with the support they need to avoid these harmful behaviours.

Obesity is on the rise. Supporting adolescents to establish healthy habits in adolescence will bring major health benefits later in life, including reduced mortality and disability due to cardiovascular diseases, stroke and cancers. School health programme and KSK in India offers a unique opportunity to provide services to young women addressing the Elderly women care – because they tend to live longer than men, women represent a growing proportion of all older people. Societies need to prepare now to prevent and manage the chronic health problems often associated with old age.

Establishing healthy habits at younger ages can help women to live active and healthy lives until well into old age. Societies must also prepare for the costs associated with the care of older women. Policies in relation to health financing, pension and tax reform, access to formal employment and associated pension and social protection, and to the provision of residential and community care.

Strengthening Health systems to provide a comprehensive package and pay attention and quality services to other issues besides the SRH of the women. Universal health coverage means covering all the health issues to all age group women with out facing financial risk.

Funding is needed to identify gaps in addressing women’s health problems and to foster innovative ways of developing life course interventionsIntersectoral collaboration is required to identify and promote actions outside the health sector that can enhance health outcomes for women. Poverty reduction, increased access to literacy, training and education, and increased opportunities for women to participate in economic activities, will also contribute to making sustainable progress in women’s health. Experience suggests that this requires a gender equality and rights-based approach that harnesses the energy of civil society and recognizes the need for political engagement.

To move this agenda forward, more in country evidence is needed. This involves taking stock of existing research, conducting new research, capturing a range of experiences and initiating a broader, community-engaging dialogue on women’s health with a focus on health systems and on chronic and non-communicable diseases.