Particularly Among Young Individuals

The youth mental health crisis

Diarrhoea and lower respiratory tract infections (pneumonia) are estimated to be among the top five causes of death for adolescents 10-14 years, with mortality rates being particularly high in African low- and middle-income countries. Thanks to improved childhood vaccination, adolescent deaths and disability from measles have fallen markedly.

The impact of mental health issues is particularly evident among young people. Young people have high rates of self-harm, and suicide is a leading cause of death among them (90, 91).

As we can see from the illustration, Particularly Among Young Individuals has many fascinating aspects to explore.

In general, the proportion of young people who reported 2 or more of 8 subjective health complaints more than weekly (a standard indicator of negative mental health status) was higher among grade 9 and 10 youth compared to those in grades 6 to 8.