Sunday 16 June 2013



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
 

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