Adolescents In India

Banning phones in schools to limited screen times at home: Vivek Murthy is advocating for proactive steps by all to safeguard mental health of the youth on social media platforms

A campaign has been launched to curtail the practice of vaping among adolescents and to recommend effective solutions, with experts seeking impactful communication to highlight its adverse effect. Experts from various fields such as sports, bureaucracy, armed forces and child welfare have joined the campaign 'Freedom For Our Future' by think-tank Think Change Forum. The experts have urged the government to initiate awareness campaigns against vaping through various public media platforms, mirroring the impactful anti-smoking advertisements. Sanjoy Roy, Managing Director of Teamwork Arts, Founder Trustee Salam Balak Trust said, Just as graphic anti-smoking advertisements are shown in movie halls, we need similar impactful communication against vaping." "These advertisements should depict the potential harm to a person's lungs and overall health, and strive to make vaping uncool. The need of the moment is for government to launch an anti-vaping advertising campaign," Roy said. Deepa

How early childhood adversities leave behind impacts, reflected as bodily changes in adolescence, in turn influencing their physical and mental health throughout life, has been uncovered in a new study published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health. Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Boston, US, involved in this study, had previously showed that exposure to adversity between ages 3 and 5 significantly affected the epigenome of children at age 7, altering biological processes possibly linked to damaging long-term health outcomes. "We wanted to determine if the epigenetic profiles associated with adversity that we observed in children at age 7 persisted into adolescence and whether the timing of exposure to adversity influenced epigenetic trajectories across development," said first author Alexandre A. Lussier, research fellow at MGH. Epigenetics is the study of stable changes or mechanisms in cell function not involving DNA alterations, one such mechanism being

The problem of drug abuse is likely to explode in the next decade, particularly affecting children in the 10-17 age group, as the societal construct undergoes a massive shift, preliminary findings of an ongoing study released on Wednesday stated. Mental health issues, performance pressure, growing emptiness and changing socio-economic conditions are having a toll on this very impressionable age group the most, making them vulnerable to addictive distractions, the study by independent think tank Think Change Forum has found. The impact of the increasing drug abuse will be seen in both urban and rural India, the study said. In view of the alarming growth in the consumption of substances in post-pandemic India, particularly among adolescents and youth, Think Change Forum has initiated a national study based on expert consultations to decode the problem of rising addiction and recommend solutions. The think tank's 'Ideas for an Addiction-Free India' initiative entails drawing learnings

90% of adolescents in the age group of 15 to 18 years in Delhi have been administered the first dose of vaccine against Covid since the launch of the drive on January 3, according to official data.

Says 1.35 bn doses will be available between Aug-Dec; 160 mn doses are expected between May and July

India has the largest population of adolescents in world-253 mn-and every fifth adolescent in the world is an Indian