Conference examines solutions to youth issues

Media Release: Thursday 20 September 2007

Conference examines solutions to youth health issues

Youth violence, youth gangs, teen pregnancies, high rates of sexually transmitted infections, suicide and depression are just some of the many topics that will be under the spotlight next week at a major youth health conference being hosted by Christchurch’s Collaborative for Research and Training in Youth Health and Development.

From 23 to 26 September 2007 in Christchurch, the 6th Australia and New Zealand Youth Health conference will bring together some of the leading researchers in adolescent health and wellbeing from Australia, the United States and the UK. 

They’ll be presenting new evidence that is emerging from research about young people and working out ways that the evidence can be applied to help solve some of the issues that young people face.

The theme of the conference is Research into Practice, Evidence into Policy and has attracted health professionals, researchers, policymakers and young people from around New Zealand and Australia. Delegates will be welcomed at a formal powhiri on Sunday with an opening address by the Minister of Youth Affairs, Hon Nanaia Mahuta.

Among the keynote speakers at the conference is Professor Ken Ginsburg from the US, who is currently holding workshops around the country on how to shift adolescents toward positive behaviours and away from “quick fixes”.

He will be discussing research that supports positive approaches to bringing up young people to become resilient and able to deal with their issues in a way that prevents them becoming headline statistics.

Other keynote speakers include Professor Rachel Thomson from the Open University in the UK, who will talk about how to get the research evidence into policy that makes a difference in young people's lives, Professor George Patton from Melbourne University who is an expert on pubertal development and the changes that occur during adolescence, and Dr Elizabeth Ozer from San Francisco who will be talking about how primary health care services can help reduce adolescent risk behaviour.

Dr Sue Bagshaw, Conference Convenor and chair of the Collaborative Trust, says the conference is a turning point in demonstrating that young people deserve more than just negative headlines. "It is time to invest in the healthy development of young people"

"This conference has been sponsored by both the Ministry of Youth Development and the Ministry of Health, and we are encouraged that they are investing in conferences like this that are so important in helping policymakers, communities and families help young people become healthy adults."

For the full programme please visit: www.collaborative.org.nz.

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