Priority strategic directions in adolescent health in Iran based on the WHO’s Global Accelerated Action for the Health of Adolescents

Afsaneh Omidimorad; Maryam Nazari; Najmeh Bahmanziari; Mohammad Haddad Soleymani; Seyyed Hamed Barakati; Gelayol Ardalan; Tahereh Aminaee; Rahim Taghizadeh; Mohammad Esmail Motlagh; Abtin Heidarzadeh

doi:10.1515/ijamh-2023-0023

Article

Priority strategic directions in adolescent health in Iran based on the WHO’s Global Accelerated Action for the Health of Adolescents

Afsaneh Omidimorad , Maryam Nazari , Najmeh Bahmanziari , Mohammad Haddad Soleymani , Seyyed Hamed Barakati , Gelayol Ardalan , Tahereh Aminaee , Rahim Taghizadeh , Mohammad Esmail Motlagh and Abtin Heidarzadeh

Published/Copyright: August 28, 2023

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From the journal International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health Volume 35 Issue 4

Abstract

Objectives

In line with the World Health Organization’s Global Accelerated Action for the Health of Adolescents (AA-HA!) guidance, the goal of the current research was to identify critical strategies for adolescents’ health and to determine the role and distribution of responsibilities among the leading players in the field of adolescent health in Iran.

Methods

The current qualitative and applied study is part of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education’s “Adolescent, Youth and School Health” plan to develop the “National Adolescent Health Plan Document” in 2020. First, stakeholder analysis was done, then a pool of nationally appropriate strategies was selected from the list of priority strategies recommended by the WHO in the AA-HA! through several group sessions. After that, the experts selected priority strategies based on the criteria of feasibility, acceptability, effectiveness, guaranteed resources, coordination with other plans and temporal priority, scoring, and executive priorities. Eventually, the priority strategies were assigned to different players/stakeholders in the field over several sessions bearing in mind the methods of implementation and the target groups.

Results

The experts identified 58 priority strategies/actions for adolescent health under the seven priority areas of positive development, sexual protection, reproductive health, mental health, substance abuse, self-harm, violence, unintentional injury, communicable and non-communicable diseases, nutrition, and physical activity.

Conclusions

The highest identified priority areas were in the areas of vaccination; special health care package for service providers; training and education to promote health literacy and self-care, life skills, sexual awareness, and prevention/protection against violence; community-based mental health services, planning for adolescents’ spare time, substance use prevention.

Keywords: intervention; adolescent health; adolescent development; health services

Corresponding author: Abtin Heidarzadeh, MD MPH, Associated professor, Medical Education Research Center, Department of Community Medicine, School of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran, Phone: +0098 (013) 33345308, E-mail: abtinh@gmail.com.

Funding source: Deputy of Health, Ministry of Health and Medical Education and the World Health Organization, Iran Office

Award Identifier / Grant number: 202640666

Acknowledgment

The authors thank all participants in this study.

Ethical approval: The local Institutional Review Board deemed the study exempt from review.
Informed consent: Verbal informed consent was obtained from all individuals included in this study.
Author contributions: Afsaneh Omidimorad: Project Management, Methodology Design, Data collection; Rahim Taghizadeh: Methodology Design and Supervision; Maryan Nazari, Najmeh Bahmanziari, Haddad Soleymani, Seyyed Hamed Barakati, Gelayol Ardalan, Tahereh Aminaee, Mohammad Esmail Motlagh: Data Collection and Study Design; Abtin Heidarzadeh: Supervision, Monitoring and Project Management, Methodology Design.
Competing interests: Authors state no conflict of interest.
Research funding: This study was supported by the Deputy of Health, Ministry of Health and Medical Education and the World Health Organization, Iran Office under the grant number 202640666.

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Received: 2023-02-27

Accepted: 2023-07-30

Published Online: 2023-08-28

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/ijamh-2023-0023

Keywords for this article

intervention; adolescent health; adolescent development; health services