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ISLAMABAD: Lack of education and health facilities have detrimental effect on the health and wellbeing of young people in Pakistan, international health journal Lancet says in a report.
The journal released its global report on the youth health on Tuesday.
The report also reveals major causes of death and the disability-adjusted life year (DALY) in Pakistan.
DALY is a measure of overall disease burden, expressed as the number of years lost due to ill-health, disability or early death. It was developed in the 1990s as a way of comparing the overall health and life expectancy in different countries.
According to the report, the cause of death can be pre-determined from the youth years because of lack of education and health facilities.
The biggest cause of death in Pakistani children aged 10-14 is intestinal infections that not only reflect lack of education but also lack of facilities. The major cause of death in the youth aged 15-24 is road accident which clearly shows the lack of education and civic sense.
While the second big cause of death in the youth aged 15-20 is intestinal infections, the situation is alarming for the youth aged 20-24. In this age group, the second highest cause of death is interpersonal violence which again is highly reflective of lack of education and training.
In case of DALY, the reason is mostly the deficiencies and infections of different kinds.
Based on the data of 2013, the study shows that in children from 10 to 14 years of age in Pakistan as many as 3,029 died by intestinal infections, 876 by diarrheal diseases and 832 by tuberculosis. Road injuries and drowning claimed the lives of 1,137 and 644 children of the same category.
Among the youth from 15 to 19 years of age, 2,865 died in road accidents, 1,447 by interpersonal violence, 2,556 by intestinal infections, 1,157 by tuberculosis and 880 poisoning.
In the category of 20 to 24 years of age, 4,363 died in road accidents, 2,204 in interpersonal violence, 2,063 by tuberculosis, 1,978 intestinal infections and 1,342 by chronic kidney diseases.
According to the report, among children from 10 to 14 years of age as many as 238,459 were affected by the iron deficiency anemia and 227,240 by intestinal infection. Skin and subcutaneous diseases, depressive disorders and road injuries come on third, fourth and fifth rank, respectively.
In the category of 15 to 19 years of age, road injuries, skin and subcutaneous diseases, depressive disorder, intestinal infection and low back and neck pain were five major problems.
Among the youth from 20 to 24 years of age, road injuries, depressive disorder, low back and neck pain, interpersonal violence and tuberculosis were major reasons.
Talking to Dawn, health expert Nadeem Hussain Alamgir said that the study could be useful for policy making.
“Unfortunately health and education are neglected sectors in Pakistan. The database depicts that the youth of the country do not have awareness and that the way they are brought up they don’t get basic information about their health,” he said.
“It is strange that a large number of youngsters lose their lives in incidents of violence. They are suffering from different types of deficiencies, such as iron. They are affected by water borne diseases.”
According to Mr Alamgir, findings of the study show that the youth in Pakistan need training and proper guidance.
Global report
The global report was launched by Lancet Commission in London on Tuesday.
It claims that decades of neglect and chronic underinvestment have had serious detrimental effect on the health and wellbeing of adolescents aged 10–24 years.
Two-thirds of young people are growing up in countries where preventable and treatable health problems like HIV/AIDS, early pregnancy, unsafe sex, depression, injury and violence remain a daily threat to their health, wellbeing and life chances.
Evidence shows that behaviours that start in adolescence can determine health and wellbeing for a lifetime.
Adolescents today also face new challenges, including rising levels of obesity and mental health disorders, high unemployment, and the risk of radicalisation.
Adolescent health and wellbeing is also a key driver of a wide range of the Sustainable Development Goals on health, nutrition, education, gender, equality and food security, and the costs of inaction are enormous, warn authors of the report.
The commission brought together 30 of the world’s leading experts from 14 countries and two young health advocates, led by four academic institutions: the University of Melbourne, Australia; University College London, UK; the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK; and Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, USA.
Depression resulted in the largest amount of ill-health worldwide in 2013, affecting more than 10pc of 10-24 year olds, followed by the rising burden of skin and subcutaneous diseases (9.9pc) like acne and dermatitis, the report claims.
The fastest growing risk factor for ill-health in young people aged 10-24 over the past 23 years is unsafe sex. Alcohol remains the world’s leading risk factor for ill-health among young adults aged 20-24 responsible for 7pc of the disease burden, followed by drug use accounting for 2.7pc.
Published in Dawn, May 11th, 2016
