Road injuries, suicide top adolescent health challenges

A United Nations agency released a report on Wednesday urging a stronger focus on the health of boys and girls in their pre- and teen years. The report, released by the Family, Women and Children's Health at the UN World Health Organization (WHO), listed road traffic injuries, HIV/AIDS and suicide as the top killers of adolescents globally, and depression as the predominant cause of illness and disability. "We hope this report will focus high-level attention on the health needs of 10 to 19-year-olds and serve as a springboard for accelerated action on adolescent health," said Flavia Bustreo, assistant director-general for Family, Women and Children's Health at WHO. An estimated 1.3 million adolescents died in 2012, largely from preventable causes, according to the UN agency's Health for the world's adolescents online report released on Wednesday. Of those young people, the highest number were killed by road traffic injuries which is also one of the top causes of illness and disability for the age group, behind depression. Among other alarming trends, the authors suggested that estimates of adolescents dying from HIV and HIV-related illnesses are on the rise, particularly in the African region. Maternal mortality still ranks as second among causes of deaths in girls between the ages of 15 and 19, only behind suicide. However, deaths due to complications from pregnancies and childbirth among adolescents have fallen, particularly in Southeast Asia, Eastern Mediterranean and African regions.