Health During Adolescence & Teenage

Adolescence is a pivotal phase of life between the age group of 10-19 years of age signifying adulthood with a period of rapid physical, cognitive, and psychosocial growth. This affects how they feel, think, make decisions and interact with the world around them. During this age, nutrition has a key role to play in their health.

The findings of the National Family Health Survey -5 (NFHS 5) Survey of 2019-21 show that almost 59.1% of adolescent girls were anemic and the NFHS 4 showed that around 41.9% of school-going girls were underweight. These numbers showcase a worrying trend.

• Reasons for Nutritional Deficiencies in adolescent girls:-

1. Gender Discrimination

2. Poverty

3. Lack of nutritional knowledge

4. Socio-cultural background

5. Early marriage & pregnancy

6. Limited access to healthcare

7. Hookworm Infestation- A condition mainly observed in young girls by the development of worms in the intestine leading to a lack of nutrition to the body and deterred growth.

• Consequences of nutritional deficiencies in adolescent girls:-

1. Malnutrition

2. Reproductive health problems

3. Impaired cognitive learning abilities

4. Increased disease burden

5. Economic Implications.

• Government initiatives to address Nutritional Deficiencies:-

1. Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG)- It refers to providing quality education, and basic facilities and empowering all girls who come under the age group of 10-14 years.

2. Rashtriya Kishore swasthya karyakram (RKSK)

3. Targeted and regionally contextualized social and behavior change communication (SBCC)

4. National Nutrition Anaemia Prophylaxis Program (NNAPP)

5. National Deworming Day is to be celebrated on the 10th of February to combat hookworm infestation.

• Way Forward:-

1. Routine training for Healthcare workers

2. Implementing Integrated comprehensive nutrition plans in various organizations

3. Better nutritional meals are to be provided in government schemes centered schools which come under the Midday Meal scheme which is now the PM-POSHAN scheme.

4. Conducting Nutrition-focused workshops

5. Focus on addressing gender disparities

6. Regular data collection to keep a look at the progress made thereafter.

-A blog by Jitisha .S. Hiremath