Nutrition and health during the adolescent stage of an individual have a bearing in his/her later life. The 10 to 19 years age group, considered as adolescents, constitute 22% of the total population of India.
This underlines the importance of addressing their health issues concerns, opined Health Consultant Chaitanya.
Speaking on ‘Key health and nutrition issues of adolescents’, at a media workshop on Adolescent Health and Nutrition, organised by UNICEF in association with Andhra University here on Thursday, Dr. Chaitanya said that lack of nutrition during the adolescent age could lead to health problems at a later stage. During this stage, children observe changes in their bodies and would be in a stage of confusion. They need to be provided clear information on the changes and how to deal with them and to get over their inhibitions. He spoke on the status of the Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK), launched in Visakhapatnam district in March 2014, and the activities undertaken like appointment of 10 adolescent health counsellors, training of ANMs, peer education training on menstrual hygiene, mainly to girls in rural areas, WIFS (weekly iron folic supplementation) to help them overcome anaemia and creating awareness among the target group on the importance of nutrition and healthy diet.
D.V.R. Murthy, professor in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, briefed about the efforts being made to train journalists in reporting on adolescent health issues. Training programmes were conducted in Narsipatnam, Anakapalle and Araku mandals in the district.
Earlier, the Communication Specialist of UNICEF (AP, Telangana and Karnataka) Prosun Sen said that the UNICEF had taken up adolescent health projects in AP, West Bengal, Assam and Jharkhand. The aim of the project was to create awareness among adolescents on the issues concerning them.
