Young people's health: the need for action

Engaging adolescents with their health can prevent a lifetime of bad habits and should be a priority for an efficient future health service It is easy to understand why a national sickness service, as the NHS has been described, 1 might choose largely to ignore young people. The common perception is that young people are rarely ill. However, in setting out its plans for the NHS, the government is now calling for a shift to a service focusing on the whole of health and wellbeing. 2 3 The national service framework for children, young people and maternity provides a lever for local change, but securing the short and longer term gains in population health and reducing health inequality will call for a much keener focus on the health of young people.