Driving responsive actions for adolescent health

Driving responsive actions for adolescent health in our region: data as an essential foundation

Synopsis: Adolescent health needs vary substantially across our region, but also within countries by age, gender, ethnicity, remoteness and other factors. For health actions to be responsive to need, we need good quality data that defines these needs. In this session we will highlight efforts globally, regionally and nationally using population data, and we will present a case study of understanding the contemporary drivers of adolescent pregnancy in our region.

Speakers: Professor Peter Azzopardi and Dr Marie Habito

Professor Peter Azzopardi leads an international program of research focusing on adolescent health and wellbeing. His research is informed by experience working as a paediatrician in Australia and across health services in the Asia Pacific region. 

Dr Marie Habito is an experienced qualitative researcher with particular skills in participatory methodologies and a background in international development.

Date: 4 April 2024

Time: 1:00 to 2:00 pm AEDT

Event recording

Advancing Adolescent Health in the Asia Pacific: A virtual community to share knowledge and support collaboration​

Despite one in two of the world’s adolescents living in the Asia-Pacific region, adolescent health is a relatively new field of endeavour in Australia as well as the region. It is a field that spans policy makers from multiple sectors, researchers from different disciplines, and practitioners working in health services, schools and communities and encompasses a multitude of health topics and concerns. Despite this, there are few opportunities to come together to share, showcase and build capacity to improve adolescent health and wellbeing in the region.  

This seminar series aims to provide opportunities for researchers, policy makers, practitioners, implementers, young advocates – indeed, anyone interested in the health and wellbeing of adolescents – to enhance their understanding of adolescent health and wellbeing, with a focus on research.

This series is supported by the Centre of Research Excellence for Driving Global Investment in Adolescent HealthLed by a team at the Centre for Adolescent Health, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, it brings together leading Australian research groups including the University of Melbourne, Burnet Institute, University of New South Wales, University of Queensland, University of South Australia, and the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute.  

Dr Farnaz Sabet and Ms Suchitra Rath will speak about the state of evidence for adolescent maternal health care in the Asia Pacific region, and some of the reasons why pregnant girls have been excluded from the research and policy space.