June 2013
Istanbul was the chosen location for the 10th
world congress of the International Association of Adolescent Health , the last
one having been held 4 years ago in Malaysia.
The congress
was held over a lively, hectic four days
with presentations, workshops, symposia and posters presented in three
parallel streams: Public Health; Clinical ; Sexual and Reproductive and a
Professional Development Stream. The day’s programme started at 0830 and ran
through until 18.00 , often featuring lunch time activities in addition.
Nicola Gray and myself were fortunate to be
able to attend the meeting, supported by the RCGP Adolescent Health Group . We
contributed to a symposium which introduced the audience to the ground breaking
work of AYPH and Youth Access : ‘GP
Champions’ and other initiatives by community based youth friendly primary care
practitioners, including pharmacy , podiatry and optometry.
For myself,
the key messages were
- · adolescence is the foundation for future health
- · investing in the second decade will maintain the health gains achieved in the first decade
- · health for youth requires a co-ordinated and holistic response extending beyond ‘sex, drugs and rock and roll’
- · education in undergraduate programmes and CPD for practitioners is universally lacking
- · youth-friendly practitioners need to advocate locally, nationally and internationally
The conference was a convivial experience with adolescent health
practitioners almost universally a warm and welcoming crowd.
The highlight of the programme was a presentation by the group of young
people who had been meeting since the start of the conference. Their project
was to produce position statements summarizing their debates on the 7 areas of
the HEADSSS acronym- a framework for discussion in the consultation.
H-Home
E- Education
A-Activities
D- Drugs
S-Safety
S- Suicide
S- Sexual health
Please see the facebook link which has all the position statements posted
and more!
Check out
www.facebook.com/youthforumIAAH2013
Nicola and I were very proud of our 2 UK reps : Collette & Ellen- you
were great !
That's all from me folks
with best wishes
Jane Roberts
