A Policy Brief Addressing a Significant Health Problem Facing Essay

A Policy Brief Addressing a Significant Health Problem Facing California - Essay Example Yet as a society, we are not making adequate investments necessary to ensure the health and well-being of all of our youth. During adolescence, young people confront new issues that affect their physical and mental health. These could be attributed to a number of varying factors. Similarly, young adults continue to experience many of the same challenges to their health and well-being. The health issues of teens and young adults are easy to overlook because they are not, for the most part, acute illnesses or chronic diseases. Instead, they are largely behavioral and social issues. Unlike the issues related to general health conditions that confront the society at large, adolescent’s health problems relate more to the lacuna in the societal interventions. Adolescents confront health issues that have multi-dimensional characteristics and implications. Addressing these issues requires change at multiple levels—from service delivery, to funding priorities, to community resources and environments, and, more fundamentally, to the behavior and attitudes of California’s adults. The World Health Organization’s definition can be taken as the standard in all areas of public health. According to the World Health Organization, health is defined as more than just the â€Å"absence of disease,† but rather a state of â€Å"complete physical, mental, and social well-being.† This broad definition has a lot of significance to adolescent health. Adolescent health encompasses not only the prevention and treatment of disease and disability. It features behavioral and social issues on an equal scale. Issues of safety, social relationships, self-esteem, education and skill development all figure into good health of adolescents. Thus, to make progress in improving adolescent health, a combination of perspectives and approaches is needed. Besides the disease components, interventions must address societal and behavioral