WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
ORGANISAnON MONDIALE DE LA SANTE
REGIONAL OFFICE FOR THE WESTERN PACIFIC BUREAU REGIONAL DU PACIFIQUE OCCIDENTAL
REGIONAL COMMlTIEE Forty-eighth session Sydney 22-26 September 1997
WPRJRC48INGO/l
26 September 1997
ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
Provisional agenda item 21
STATEMENT BY PROFESSOR DAVID BENNETT,
,
REPRESENTATIVE OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR ADOLESCENT HEALTH The International Association for Adolescent Health (lAAH) is a mutlidisciplinary organization with a broad youth health focus. Formed in 1987 with encouragement from WHO, its charter members were delegates to the fourth International Symposium on Adolescent Health held in Sydney, Australia. A great deal has been achieved in the past 10 years. The Association's mission is to foster wider understanding of the importance of youth health in every region of the world; to encourage interaction and cooperation between youth and non-youth and between organizations and individuals on youth health issues; to foster the development of national associations for youth health; and to advocate on behalf of improved levels of service,
,
training, research and policy development in youth health in each country. The Association is focusing increasingly on regional activities as a means of fulfilling its broad aims. The hosting of the First IAAH Pacific Rim Conference on Adolescent Health in
Auckland, New Zealand in 1993 represented a boost within the Western Pacific Region. The second IAAH Pacific Rim Conference on Adolescent Health (11-14 November 1997), organized by the New Children's Hospital at Westmead, will be held at Bondi Beach with a range of affiliated activities from the far north o(Queensland to the southern tip of Tasmania. The overarching theme is
"Celebrating Cultures and Commonality" which provides us with a timely opportunity to explore multiculturalism and reconciliation as issues of major importance to the health of young people of our Region.
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It is a requiremen r of both IAAH and WHO that young people have an active voice in
deliberations concerning their health and well-being. These upcoming events will be no exception. The indigenous youth health conference in Cooktown (8-10 November 1997) is entitled "Barna ~du wudu mara mara: Rising above the waves of dispossession" while in Sydney, Korobra Youth Health Symposium will be held in conjunction with the main conference at Bondi Beach. I bring warm greetings to delegates of this meeting from IAAH President,
Professor Roger Tonkin, and members of our Council. Our Association looks forward to working closely with WHO in support of improved health and health care for young people in the Western Pacific Region.