Problem identification workshop on adolescent mental health is taking place today at Holiday Inn Ulaanbaatar Hotel, gathering sector specialists, academics, professionals, service providers, citizens, youth and other stakeholders including National Center for Mental Health National Center for Maternal and Child Health, City Health Department, Public Health Institute, National University of Mongolia, Mongolian Youth Federation, Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and relevant NGOs, with a mission to discuss the mental health concerns with the representatives from different sectors and to find innovative solutions.
"Some of the best solutions are to find a space where adolescents can communicate. One of the problem behind mental health of adolescents is they feel alone, they feel isolated. So we need to create space where they feel can communicate. We can use mobile phones, applications, internet this is why we are connecting this why we are connecting this reflection to IT opportunities. The most important thing is to create a safe space for adolescents to communicate, exchange, ask for advice and receive good advice.
There are number of issues that are particularly important. One is an indication that we receive that the raise of attempted suicide or number of adolescence thought about committing suicide in Mongolia is significant. We need to consider that. But also the high rise of sexually transmitted infections among adolescents. Almost 44 percent of the cases of STIs in Mongolia are within the adolescence age group. These are the indication that we need to take this very seriously. This is why we gather this process of reflection with experts to try to find new solutions to these problems", said Roberto Benes, UNICEF Representative in Mongolia.
Mongolia is a young country with over 450,000 or 15.2% of the population are adolescents. According to the Adolescent Situation Analysis 2016 many issues related to adolescents’ health, education, safety and well-being are not sufficiently addressed.
Among these issues as such mental health of adolescents remains overlooked and there is a growing concern on adolescents’ health in Mongolia. The statistical data of 2016 in connection with these issues indicate alarming results. For example, 21.3% of children between the ages of 13 and 15 seriously considered attempting suicide during the past 12 months and 9.1% of them actually attempted suicide one or more times during the past 12 months.
The first steps to trigger the process of creating effective mechanisms of inter-sectoral collaboration and providing adolescent friendly mental health services were initiated by the City Health Department and UNICEF in May 2016. In addition to these and other efforts, UNICEF Mongolia in collaboration with Mongol Content LLC (MOCO) and Creative Workshop LLC (CW) has launched a Youth Innovation Challenge for Adolescents Health in Mongolia project to offer new avenues for engaging and empowering young people as drivers of social change, nurturing local innovation and talent, raising awareness around key social issues, generating new ideas and approaches to specific problems and bringing together stakeholders and resources around key challenges for children.
In scope of the Youth Innovation Challenge for Adolescents Health in Mongolia project, two problem identification workshops is scheduled to be held.
The second workshop on adolescent sexual and reproductive health will take place on Feb 10th.
The best ideas initiated at the workshops will be selected and to be implemented starting next year.
Problem identification workshop on adolescent mental health is taking place today at Holiday Inn Ulaanbaatar Hotel, gathering sector specialists, academics, professionals, service providers, citizens, youth and other stakeholders including National Center for Mental Health National Center for Maternal and Child Health, City Health Department, Public Health Institute, National University of Mongolia, Mongolian Youth Federation, Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and relevant NGOs, with a mission to discuss the mental health concerns with the representatives from different sectors and to find innovative solutions.
"Some of the best solutions are to find a space where adolescents can communicate. One of the problem behind mental health of adolescents is they feel alone, they feel isolated. So we need to create space where they feel can communicate. We can use mobile phones, applications, internet this is why we are connecting this why we are connecting this reflection to IT opportunities. The most important thing is to create a safe space for adolescents to communicate, exchange, ask for advice and receive good advice.
There are number of issues that are particularly important. One is an indication that we receive that the raise of attempted suicide or number of adolescence thought about committing suicide in Mongolia is significant. We need to consider that. But also the high rise of sexually transmitted infections among adolescents. Almost 44 percent of the cases of STIs in Mongolia are within the adolescence age group. These are the indication that we need to take this very seriously. This is why we gather this process of reflection with experts to try to find new solutions to these problems", said Roberto Benes, UNICEF Representative in Mongolia.
Mongolia is a young country with over 450,000 or 15.2% of the population are adolescents. According to the Adolescent Situation Analysis 2016 many issues related to adolescents’ health, education, safety and well-being are not sufficiently addressed.
Among these issues as such mental health of adolescents remains overlooked and there is a growing concern on adolescents’ health in Mongolia. The statistical data of 2016 in connection with these issues indicate alarming results. For example, 21.3% of children between the ages of 13 and 15 seriously considered attempting suicide during the past 12 months and 9.1% of them actually attempted suicide one or more times during the past 12 months.
The first steps to trigger the process of creating effective mechanisms of inter-sectoral collaboration and providing adolescent friendly mental health services were initiated by the City Health Department and UNICEF in May 2016. In addition to these and other efforts, UNICEF Mongolia in collaboration with Mongol Content LLC (MOCO) and Creative Workshop LLC (CW) has launched a Youth Innovation Challenge for Adolescents Health in Mongolia project to offer new avenues for engaging and empowering young people as drivers of social change, nurturing local innovation and talent, raising awareness around key social issues, generating new ideas and approaches to specific problems and bringing together stakeholders and resources around key challenges for children.
In scope of the Youth Innovation Challenge for Adolescents Health in Mongolia project, two problem identification workshops is scheduled to be held.
The second workshop on adolescent sexual and reproductive health will take place on Feb 10th.
The best ideas initiated at the workshops will be selected and to be implemented starting next year.