The 11th World Congress on Adolescent Health, Held during 27- 29 October 2017 at New Delhi: A Report
The 11th World Congress of the International Association of Adolescent Health (IAAH) on Adolescent Health with focus on ‘Investing in adolescent health – the Future is now’ was held in New Delhi, from 27-29 October 2017. It was hosted by Mamta Health Institute for Mother and Child, and the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) with support of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India.
The IAAH formally invited the TNAI as a professional association partner of the Congress. We were part of National Organising Committee and attended many meetings organised by IAAH in Delhi. We promoted the Congress by advertising this information through NJI, TNAI Bulletin, TNAI website and through letter to all the Council members to nominate two delegates from each branch. Around 800 participants including nursing professionals from various parts of the country attended the Congress. As per the decision of the Executive Committee, Mrs Sanghamitra Sawant and Mrs Vatchala Dinakaran, Asst Secretaries attended the Congress besides three participants from Maharashtra.
IAAH included the TNAI logo on their website, backdrop and in promotional material developed for the Congress.
The inaugural ceremony on 26 October 2017 at Hotel Pullman, Aerocity, New Delhi congress was attended by Mrs Anita Deodhar, President, Ms Surekha Sama, Vice President (North Region), Dr CN Bhargavi, Hony Treasurer, Mrs Evelyn P Kannan, Secretary General, Mrs Sanghamitra Sawant and Mrs Vatchala Dinakaran, Asst Secretaries, TNAI.
Various sessions were taken by eminent professionals. The plenary keynote on “Global adolescent health: opportunities and challenges” was taken by Prof Susan Sawyer, President, IAAH; this was followed by “Adolescent health programming in India: past, present and lesson learned”, “Adolescent health: a young person’s perspective”, “Adolescent Health – India’s vision” by other eminent speakers around the world.
Other topics covered included Adolescent Health and Wellbeing, Meeting the Challenge of Global Adolescent Health, Various Issues of Adolescents like self harm in adolescents, Adolescent mothers: Too young to be neglected, free play and children’s mental health, Research-based Evidences on Adolescent Health.
This conference also included the parallel symposia, facts presentations, Thematic Poster Presentation, debate, abstracts of research studies on women and adolescents. The scientific and other sessions proved to be quite fruitful and brought out the importance of investing in Adolescent Health issues.