Global Accelerated Action for the Health of Adolescents (AA-HA!) - Second edition

Overview

Adolescents are not simply old children or young adults. This deceptively simple observation lies at the heart of Global Accelerated Action for the Health of Adolescents (AA-HA!): guidance to support country implementation, which reflects the coming of age of adolescent health within global public health.

The first edition of the “Global accelerated action for the health of adolescents (AA-HA!) guidance to support country implementation”, published six years ago, helped to draw attention to the need for a comprehensive response to adolescent health after decades of neglect.

The second edition of the AA-HA! guidance is a collaborative effort spearheaded by the World Health Organization in collaboration with UNAIDS, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF, UN WOMEN, the World Food Programme and PMNCH. Building on the solid foundation of the first edition and voices of adolescents and young adults around the world, this multi-agency product has evolved to incorporate valuable learnings from the past six years, including of the COVID-19 pandemic's impacts. Latest estimates of mortality and disease burden, updated evidence, and a broader focus on wellbeing make our second edition a cutting-edge resource for policy makers in the area of adolescent health and well-being.

AA-HA! 2.0 offers insights into the current health and well-being landscape of the world’s over 1.2 billion adolescents, underlining evidence-based solutions and presenting strategies for priority setting, planning, implementing, and evaluating health and well-being programmes. The inclusion of key implementation strategies and real-world case studies make this guide a practical tool for governments in designing and implementing a new generation of adolescent health and well-being programmes.