Adolescent Health and Well-Being

Nina Ferencic's presentation for the Programming for Adolescents and Youth in the Arab States/MENA Region conference in Istanbul, Turkey, December 3-7 2012, begins with slides representing student leadership in 1967 and shows 40 years of history in which student leadership is not heard as a representative voice. In 2006, with the advent of more internet communication and, in 2012 and 2011, with the rise of social networks and social change in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region began an era of student leadership and youth voices.

Ferencic shows the rate of shifting demographics towards more urban and youthful populations:

• "In 1960 two-thirds of the world lived in rural areas; by 2030 two-thirds will live in cities.
• Today, there are 23 mega-cities with over 10 million people - in 1990 there were 11.
• The majority of rural-urban migrants are young people 16-25 years old."

With 2 billion young people on the globe, many are affected by consequences of urbanisation, including: "disintegration of traditional family and social structures; rise in unemployment; rise in juvenile violence; and increased inequities."

Her presentation then shows the health effects on young people through: statistics; personal stories; graphs; and facts on the effects of poverty, early pregnancy, HIV, physical and mental abuse, and drug abuse. She shows relationships of health and social problems including dropping out of school, risky behaviours, injury, and physical problems.

Further, she: charts risk and protective factors of common determinants for various behaviours; illustrates building an enabling environment for youth, an ecological framework for health, and domains of adolescent well-being; and begins to answer the question: "How do we put this into practice?"

Editor's note: The gallery presented here is a partial representation of the complete PowerPoint presentation; to view the entire presentation, please contact the presenter; contact information is available below.