Youth Health is the range of approaches to building wellbeing and preventing, detecting or treating young people's health

 

An overview of youth health shows it is related to many factors, including education and socio-economic background.

In 2007 when the The Lancet introduced a series on adolescent health they said, "adolescent health is an area of health care that remains neglected, marginalised, or ignored in many countries".

Young people have specific health needs, yet they under utilise health services. The New Zealand Youth Health Status Report highlights the health issues effecting young people.

One of the main reasons young people do not access health care is a lack of easily accessible health services: including no transport, lack of resources to pay for health care, and/or poor availability of health care.

Young people also go without health care when they have concerns about the quality of the care they receive, especially concerns about privacy, confidentiality, and/or not feeling comfortable with a health care provider.

Provision of school-based and youth specific service health services are effective in connecting young people to health care. Making mainstream services youth-friendly is also important.

Find out about:

Youth 'One-stop Shops' in NZ
School-based Services
General Practices
Accessing Specialist Services
District Health Boards

Key documents:

Youth health: A guide to action is the key government policy related to youth health
Making the primary health care system work for young people - NZAAHD position paper
Youth-specific primary health care – access, utilisation and health outcomes: A critical appraisal of the literature.
Adolescent Friendly Health services: An agenda for change.