5th Annual Australian and New Zealand Adolescent Health Conference

Young Peoples Health - what's it going to take? This is the question being asked by international and local experts when they meet in Sydney Olympic Park on 13-15 November at The 5th Annual Australian and New Zealand Adolescent Health Conference, hosted by The Children's Hospital at Westmead.

Deaths of adolescents are always shocking. Approximately 400 commit suicide each year, and over 70 percent of deaths are from preventable causes.

Adolescent heath issues are increasing. Obesity affects 25 percent of young people and over one fifth of teenagers are coping with a chronic illness.

General Practitioners are urged to attend and participate in this year's conference which will focus on:

• Risk and protective factors
• Neurobiology of the adolescent brain
• Reproductive and sexual health issues
• Family, community and cultural influences
• Impact of media and technology on young people
• Research, policy and practice responses

The conference is hosted by The Department of Adolescent Medicine and the NSW Centre for the Advancement of Adolescent Health (CAAH) from The Children's Hospital at Westmead and the University of Sydney with the support of Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY), UNICEF Australia, NSW Commission for Children & Young People and other centres and organisations in Australia and New Zealand who work towards adolescent well-being.

All attending general practitioners will receive a free copy of "The GP Resource Kit" published by the NSW Centre for the Advancement of Adolescent Health and the Transcultural Mental Health Centre (valued at AUD25)

To register visit www.youthhealth2006.org