Teens’ Health Needs Will Increase with Growing Population
California is "not prepared to meet the health needs of its exploding teenage population," according to a University of California-San Francisco and California Adolescent Health Collaborative study released yesterday. The $200,000 study stated that more teens will eventually suffer from "a variety of mental and physical problems," including AIDS, obesity and smoking-related diseases, if health services access is not improved. With the number of teens in California projected to increase from five million to six million by 2005, UCSF professor and study author Claire Brindis noted that the teen "population explosion could undermine progress" in areas such as teen pregnancy. From 1991 to 1998, teen birth rates fell by 28% in California, but each year, more than 59,000 state teens still become parents. Social services experts say that appropriate care and counseling could help avoid adolescents' health problems, but many families do not take advantage of public programs like Healthy Families, and many teens able to obtain their own coverage are confused by paperwork or concerned about confidentiality for reproductive issues.
"People's health for the rest of their lives [is] developed in adolescence, you begin acquiring the habits that are the biggest killers then," Los Angeles Free Clinic Medical Services Administrator Julia Causey said, emphasizing the need for teens to receive more information on their health (Song, Los Angeles Times, 1/9). Twenty-one percent of California children and teens are uninsured, compared to 15% nationally. In addition, the report states that two out of three California teens do not receive necessary mental health services. The study made eight recommendations to improve teen health, including enrolling eligible teens in public assistance programs like Healthy Families, establishing a state office of youth to advocate for youth issues and expanding state-funded mentoring and after-school programs (Koehler, Ventura County Star, 1/9). Although talks are in early stages, the groups involved in the study have already begun to implement the study's recommendations (Los Angeles Times, 1/9).
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