Our future: young people’s health and climate roadmap
We’re building a roadmap for adolescent health in a time of climate change. This work aims to inform national and provincial priorities for adolescent health in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Vanuatu.
Why adolescent health matters
To achieve health equity, we must address adolescent health.
Adolescents aged 10 to 24 years make up a quarter of the world’s population and face major health inequities. Despite this, they’re often kept at the margins of policy responses.
Poor health in adolescence is also connected to inequality in adulthood and future generations.
This generation of young people are the first to live their entire lives under the threat of climate change, and climate change has distinct impacts on adolescent development, health and wellbeing.
Young people have experience and expertise that can help us understand climate impacts on health. They can also help us develop the strategies we need to address this.
What we're doing
Together with young people and key stakeholders in the region, we’re co-creating a roadmap for ‘adolescent health x climate’.
We are conducting workshops at national level in PNG and Vanuatu, and at a provincial level in East New Britain, PNG. These workshops aim to identify:
- adolescent health priorities in the context of climate change
- next steps to advance young people’s health.
We’re also supporting adolescent health leadership and capacity, and training primary-level health workers in adolescent-responsive health care.
What we aim to do
The roadmap aims to:
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co-develop priorities for adolescent health and its intersection with climate change
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identify existing policy frameworks, programs and services that address adolescent health, key gaps and targets
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support capacity development in adolescent health, by identifying needs and priorities and upskilling our young leaders.
Timeline
This project started 1 January 2026.
Partners
Funding partners
Supported by the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP).
Collaborators
- United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
- East New Britain Provincial Health Authority
Project contacts
Professor Stephen Bell
Head, International Development; Co-Head Global Adolescent Health; Senior Principal Research Fellow; Theme Lead, Social Science and Global Health
Dr Elissa Kennedy
Co-Program Director, Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health; Co-Head Global Adolescent Health
Project team
Professor Stephen Bell
Head, International Development; Co-Head Global Adolescent Health; Senior Principal Research Fellow; Theme Lead, Social Science and Global Health
Dr Elissa Kennedy
Co-Program Director, Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health; Co-Head Global Adolescent Health
Dean Cassano
Senior International Health Project Officer
Dr Delly Babona
Women, Children and Adolescent Health Lead, Papua New Guinea
