By MARTIN JOHNSTON
The present generation of teenagers in the West will become the fattest, sickest and least fertile in history, doctors warn.
Their eating, drinking, sexual, drug-taking and smoking habits are creating a public health timebomb, say British and New Zealand specialists.
The British Medical Association has highlighted the worrying statistics
in an Adolescent Health report. It is urging the British Government to aim more health services at teenagers who "missed out", being neither children nor adults.
In New Zealand, teenage-smoking rates have declined slightly, but the rate of chlamydia, a sexual infection which can leave women infertile, continues to rise.
The youth suicide rate has started to decline, although it is still among the highest for Western countries.
The Auckland University Youth 2000 questionnaire, answered by nearly 10,000 high school pupils, found that more than 20 per cent of girls aged 15 reported having serious depression.
The British report said 20 per cent of adolescents may have experienced psychological problems.
Auckland University adolescent health specialist Dr Peter Watson, one of the authors of the Youth 2000 study, said yesterday that New Zealand youth missed out on healthcare, just as adolescent Britons did.
"We're sitting on major problems for the future: mental health, obesity, sexual health.
"These problems have long-term consequences for us as a nation, especially with an ageing population where we need a productive workforce who are going to pay the tax."
Teenagers had poor access to health services. That could be remedied by opening comprehensive clinics in schools that could deal with general health needs and sensitive issues such as sexual health.
Adolescents needed confidentiality on sexual health so were less likely to go to a family doctor about it, Dr Watson said.
Dr Pat Tuohy, the Health Ministry's chief adviser on child and youth health, said a youth health plan published last year recognised the need for comprehensive youth health services and a start had been made.
He also highlighted the reduction in doctors' fees for many of school age through the higher subsidies the Government was giving to the new Primary Health Organisations.
A strategy to reduce youth suicide was helping and a Land Transport Safety Authority campaign had led to a sharp reduction in the number of young people being admitted to hospital with road traffic injuries.
British Medical Association spokeswoman Dr Vivienne Nathanson said teenagers' behaviour posed "an extraordinary threat to an entire generation".
- additional reporting: Daily Telegraph
Herald Feature: Health
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