A profile of adolescent health in Myanmar

Around 1 in 4 people in Myanmar is aged between 10-24 years, representing the largest population of adolescents (15 million) in the country’s history.

Objective

This cohort of young people presents a powerful opportunity to improve health and development outcomes for Myanmar: investing in adolescent health not only ensures the health and wellbeing of the current generation of young people, but also lays the foundation for future adult health, and the health of the next generation.

Key to realising this ‘triple dividend’ is understanding the priority health needs of adolescents to inform effective investments.

To date, the needs of adolescents in Myanmar had not been systematically described, representing a major knowledge gap and a barrier to developing responsive policies and programs.

Timeline

2019–2025.

Approach

Using available national data and modelled data from the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation, we for the first time developed a comprehensive profile of the major causes of poor health, risk behaviours an determinants for 10-24 year-olds. This was presented to the National Taskforce for Adolescent Health and directly informed national policy around adolescent health.

Community impact

Publication is here.