This document presents a comprehensive literature review, documenting existing experience with the provision of services for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) to adolescents. It draws from programme experience worldwide, including the following service delivery models: public and nongovernmental organization health services which have been made adolescent-friendly, sexual and reproductive health clinics and multipurpose centres for young people, school-based or school-linked services, and community-based and private sector services.

In Africa, as in many parts of the world, adolescent reproductive health is a controversial issue for policy makers and programme planners. Adolescents are particularly vulnerable to HIV and AIDS and to a host of other problems such as sexually transmitted infection, unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortions, sexual abuse, female genital mutilation and unsafe circumcision. Yet many countries do not have adolescent health policies in place and much remains to be done to ensure that adolescents can access appropriate sexual and reproductive health services. The authors of this volume present new perspectives and strategies to promote adolescent sexual and reproductive health. In particular, they make a unique attempt to bring together social and biomedical science and to disseminate concrete empirical evidence from existing programmes, carefully analysing what works and what does not at the local level.

This examination of changes in adolescent fertility emphasizes the changing social context within which adolescent childbearing takes place.

Sexual Orientation in Child and Adolescent Health Care serves as a resource for child health care professionals including pediatricians, family physicians, nurses, pediatric psychologists, child and adolescent psychiatrists, and social workers. The issues of sexuality and sexual orientation now generate great interest among those who treat children. This volume describes the effects of stigmatization on non-heterosexual physicians, patients, and students, and discusses a variety of clinically relevant topics including the development of sexual orientations, children of gay or lesbian parents, young children with gender atypical behavior, and the healthcare needs of gay and lesbian adolescents. The last two chapters describe methods for improvement in medical education and medical care, and provide extensive resources available to professionals and consumers.

Adolescenceâ€"beginning with the onset of puberty and ending in the mid-20sâ€"is a critical period of development during which key areas of the brain mature and develop. These changes in brain structure, function, and connectivity mark adolescence as a period of opportunity to discover new vistas, to form relationships with peers and adults, and to explore one's developing identity. It is also a period of resilience that can ameliorate childhood setbacks and set the stage for a thriving trajectory over the life course. Because adolescents comprise nearly one-fourth of the entire U.S. population, the nation needs policies and practices that will better leverage these developmental opportunities to harness the promise of adolescenceâ€"rather than focusing myopically on containing its risks. This report examines the neurobiological and socio-behavioral science of adolescent development and outlines how this knowledge can be applied, both to promote adolescent well-being, resilience, and development, and to rectify structural barriers and inequalities in opportunity, enabling all adolescents to flourish.

More children born today will survive to adulthood than at any time in history. It is now time to emphasize health and development in middle childhood and adolescence--developmental phases that are critical to health in adulthood and the next generation. Child and Adolescent Health and Development explores the benefits that accrue from sustained and targeted interventions across the first two decades of life. The volume outlines the investment case for effective, costed, and scalable interventions for low-resource settings, emphasizing the cross-sectoral role of education. This evidence base can guide policy makers in prioritizing actions to promote survival, health, cognition, and physical growth throughout childhood and adolescence.