Dakar, 22 October -- Adolescence is a crucial phase in human development and adequate coverage of the health needs of people in this age group in Africa is crucial for their health, and ultimately for the health and future of African societies, the second WHO Africa Regional Reproductive Health Task Force heard Tuesday in Dakar, Senegal.

"Adolescence per se is not the problem but the vulnerability of adolescents to morbidity and mortality due to weakening family ties and support systems, widespread and increasing poverty which exposes them to influences that impact negatively on their health, and globalization which exposes them to information and other external influences which they are ill-prepared to cope with," Dr Arabang Maruping, WHO Regional Adviser for Child and Adolescent Health in the African Region told the meeting.

She identified the major health problems in adolescence as mainly sexual and reproductive health problems (early or unwanted pregnancy, abortion complications and Sexually Transmitted Infections, including HIV/AIDS), substance abuse and mental health problems, nutritional deficiencies, injuries and accidents, and sexual abuse and exploitation.

Dr Maruping stated that, globally, lifestyle diseases were responsible for 68.4% of mortality and 58.4% of morbidity, and that these diseases had their roots in adolescence. She maintained that common adolescent problems were preventable and called for the institution of appropriate national policies and programmes to address adolescent health issues in the Region.

In a presentation on adolescent pregnancy, the focal point for Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health at WHO headquarters, Dr Peju Olukoya, stated that, globally, of the 14 million adolescents who give birth annually, 12.8 million of these were in developing countries, a large proportion of them in the African Region.

She said that the issue had become worrisome not only because people in the 10-19 year age group were vulnerable to health and non-health problems, but also because they constituted the largest cohort of young people in history -about 1.2 billion.

The high rate of adolescent pregnancy has led to a number of negative consequences, especially in developing countries.

Among these are high maternal, perinatal and infant mortality, obstetric fistulae, infertility, higher fertility rates, premature termination of education and poor earning power as well as the inter-generational transfer of poor health, deficient education and a perpetuation of the vicious cycle of poverty and ill-health.

According to Dr Olukoya, two notable current trends in the context of adolescent pregnancy were the decreasing resources for reproductive health and the explosion of HIV/AIDS pandemic, as evidenced by the fact that 6,000 new HIV infections recorded daily worldwide were in young people.

She said that the issue of adolescent pregnancy could be addressed by, among other interventions, mainstreaming it into safe motherhood programmes, including family and community practices.

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