Adolescent Girls in Tamil Nadu – An Overview

‘Adolescence’ implies the developmental transition from childhood to adulthood, a time period when many important social, economic, biological, and demographic events set the stage for adult life. The study provides an overall synopsis of the health status of adolescent girls in Tamil Nadu, highlights their vulnerabilities and obstacles in accessing opportunities and services. In this study, the authors ascertain information from the latest NFHS-4 (2016) with special focus on three areas namely, the Nutrition, the Sanitation & Hygiene and the Sexual & Reproductive health of adolescent girls. The study emphasizes to explore the innovative strategies for behavioural change by harnessing ICT avenues like Mobile App, in the changing social context of youngster’s lifestyle. Sensitive subjects like Nutrition, Menstruation, Sexual & Reproductive health related facts can be effectively disseminated through Mobile app alerts or SMS – thus, ‘Smartphone’ as an instrument for behaviour change. Adolescent girls in the state face many hindrances and barriers in ensuring positive adolescence outcomes at individual, family, and community level. Hence, the study recommends for a dedicated state sponsored scheme for adolescent girls with proactive role of professional social workers.