10 September 2009
A worldwide study points to traffic accidents as the greatest cause of fatalities among young people (ages 10-24). Other leading factors contributing to death in this age group are suicide, HIV/Aids and Tuberculosis.
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| Logo of the World Health Organization at WHO headquarters in Geneva |
"There is an impression that young people are completely healthy, but young people are dying as well," said Dr. Krishna Bose, a researcher for World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. "The sad thing about this report is that most of these deaths are preventable," she said.
Ten
percent of the total deaths came from traffic accidents; 6 percent from
suicides and other inter-personal violence; 5 percent from HIV/AIDS and
5 percent from Tuberculosis.
"Just when this age group is starting to give us productive members of society, they die from preventable causes," Bose said. Low Income and Poor Health Care Blamed
Analysis of
statistics (from 2004, the last year for which complete statistics are
available) showed 97 percent of the 2.6 million deaths among young
people came in low and middle income countries. Bose said two-thirds of those deaths came in Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, two developing regions
where health care is minimal or non-existent.
Mental Health Issues
Beginning at the age of 15, the number of suicides jumped sharply coinciding with the "coming of age."
"Young people are discovering the adult world
where they are not entirely welcome," says Bose. "They start feeling
the pressure (of becoming an adult) while having problems with their
personal identity."
HIV/Aids And Tuberculosis
The number of
deaths attributed to communicable diseases comes at a time when teenagers
and young adults become sexually active and begin to travel.
There is
no cure for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus which causes Aids.
Tuberculosis is not a killer disease and is treatable but "people in
these areas don't have access to adequate care, which is the real
problem," says Bose.
Maternal Deaths
Mothers dying during
childbirth is the major cause of deaths among women.
"This can be
prevented. It's a question of having adequate health care in place
and having a prevention strategy," says Bose.
While a companion report from UNICEF on the mortality of children under the age of five published Friday in the British journal Lancet has
received wider coverage, Bose said this is the first time researchers
have focused on the causes of death in this age group.
In 2004, the world's
population was estimated at 6 billion. The number of people between 10
and 24 years of age was estimated at 1.6 billion.