Adolescent India: Do We Care Enough?

Improving Adolescent Health is emerging as a critical area for India to invest in. Afterall, India has 25.3 crore adolescents (10-19 years). Every fifth adolescent in the world is an Indian. Yet, 47 per cent girls and 58 per cent boys are underweight. 56 per cent girls and 30 per cent boys are anemic. 40 per cent adolescents are out of school. 43 per cent adolescents get married before 18. Three per cent of girls become teenage mothers; about 6,000 die every year. Critical problems such as substance abuse, stress, high-risk sexual behaviour and violence and mental health are least attended to. So, will our adolescent population be a dividend or a disaster? We ask leading voices.