Today we know more than ever about supporting adolescent health and well-being. Many interventions have a substantial evidence base, and, when implemented with fidelity, can have significant positive impacts on the health and well-being of adolescents. Countries can take effective action now to promote and protect adolescent health and well-being.
Interventions for adolescents should operate at all levels of the ecological framework, from the individual level to the structural level. To reduce major burdens and risk factors, it is important to ensure that interventions – even those aimed at wider population groups – are tailored to adolescents’ specific needs and circumstances, such as the provision of adolescent-responsive health services. Interventions should be delivered with quality and universal coverage, such as the enforcement of road traffic laws or the implementation of policies and legislation that reduce the affordability of tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy foods and beverages.
Given the multidimensionality of adolescent health and well-being, collaboration across sectors through multisectoral or integrated programming is crucial. The education sector can be particularly important for influencing adolescent behaviour, health and well-being through intensive, long-term, large-scale initiatives by professionals.
Gaps in the evidence base include limited knowledge of what works in humanitarian crises, gender transformative programmes and digital interventions.
Interventions are presented in section 3 by areas of adolescent health and development with the greatest disease burdens and risk factors. The interventions are selected primarily from the most recent relevant guidelines from all WHO departments. Interventions were also drawn from recommendations of other UN agencies with the relevant mandate (for example, from UNAIDS on HIV prevention interventions) and, as needed, from other major international agency publications and/or review articles in established academic journals.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown a light on several important domains of adolescent health and well-being, including adolescent mental health, connections and supportive family and peer environments and the need for access to reproductive health and other services. Section 3.6 discusses responses to COVID-19 in adolescents.
What is new in this chapter?
- The most recent evidence on proven adolescent health and well-being interventions
- Guidelines published since the previous version of the AA-HA! guidance
- More substantial treatment of positive development interventions.
