EDITOR - PAWAN KUMAR GUPTA
New Delhi
India needs community-driven approach to tackle adolescent health challenges: Experts"
New Delhi, October 14, 2025 - The 3rd International Conference on Public Health and Nutrition (ICPHN 2025), organized by Sukarya, bringing together policymakers, researchers, practitioners, and youth advocates from across Asia to redefine what health equity means in today’s complex world. With India home to over 250 million adolescents, nearly one fifth of the world’s youth, the conference’s theme struck an urgent chord: how evidence, empathy, and equity can converge to shape a healthier, more just future. Anchored in Sukarya’s mission to bridge the gap between policy and people, ICPHN 2025 seeks to move the conversation from board-room to communities, turning health into a shared social responsibility.
While addressing the conference, Dr. Zoya Ali Rizvi, Deputy Commissioner, Nutrition and Adolescent Health, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, underscored the national mission’s focus on preventive health and behavioral change.
"We are witnessing a paradigm shift," Dr. Rizvi said. "Our effort is not just to treat illness but to prevent the early onset of non-communicable diseases by creating a culture of health literacy and self-care among young people. The aim is to reach every state and every adolescent with programs that don’t just prescribe solutions but enable ownership of health."
Her remarks come at a critical moment for India’s adolescent health landscape. According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS 5, 2019–21), nearly 59% of adolescent girls aged 15–19 in India are anemic, up from 54% in the previous survey. This rising trend signals the urgent need to strengthen preventive and community based interventions rather than reactive treatment models.
“Health outcomes don’t improve by systems alone; they improve when communities take ownership,” said Ms. Meera Satpathy, Founder & Chairperson, Sukarya. “We began convening international conferences because we believe that while real change begins at the grassroots, it flourishes when guided by the best minds in the world. The future belongs to those who act with the heart, lead with purpose, and refuse to give up.”
Ms. Kanta Singh, Country Representative (OIC), UN Women India, brought a deeply personal reflection to the conversation. Drawing from her journey from rural Haryana to global leadership, she emphasized how exposure, education, and sports can transform young lives.
"Sports gave me wings before I even knew I could fly," she said. "It taught me confidence, discipline, and the courage to step outside my comfort zone. For girls, mobility is empowerment and empowerment is health."
From the grassroots in India to global youth led innovation, Dr. Vandana Prasad, Principal Technical Advisor, Public Health Resource Society (PHRS), highlighted why true progress begins with communities."We often call them beneficiaries," she said, "but they are rights holders and knowledge bearers. When tribal adolescents in Jharkhand set up their own pad banks, kitchen gardens, and reading clubs, they were redefining sustainability in their own language."
Adding a cross border perspective, Ms. Bonita Sharma, Founder and CEO of Social Changemakers and Innovators (SOCHAI), Nepal, shared how her youth led organization is tackling malnutrition and adolescent health through community rooted innovations.
“The second window of opportunity in adolescence is often missed,” she said. “We must invest in young people to address the triple burden of malnutrition and achieve triple benefits. Our model brings student volunteers from nursing and pharmacy backgrounds into communities as junior health champions, bridging gaps between schools, homes, and health facilities.”
She added that SOCHAI’s color coded bracelet innovations — Nutri Beads for child feeding, Red Cycle for reproductive health awareness, and Anti-Anemia bracelets — use color as a universal language to make health information visible and joyful. A quasi experimental study with over 900 adolescents showed improved nutrition awareness, increased iron folic acid intake, and healthier food habits. “Young people are powerful agents of change when given knowledge, tools, and trust,” she concluded.
Bringing an academic lens, Dr. Fransisca Handy Agung, Associate Professor, Department of Child and Adolescent Health, University of Pelita Harapan, Indonesia, spoke on the neurological and social complexities of adolescence.
"Adolescents are like aircraft preparing for takeoff," she said. "They face turbulence from peers, parents, and policy, yet they are wired for creativity, risk, and transformation."
ICPHN 2025 stands as a reminder that the future of public health will not be built in hospitals alone, but in homes, schools, and communities where people learn to care for themselves and one another. The conversations unfolding in Delhi this week aim to transform not just policy frameworks, but the very grammar of how nations define well-being.
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