The role of primary health care in assessing and preventing health risk factors of adolescents in Georgia

Abstract

The goal of this study was to evaluate health risk factors, specifically tobacco use and alcohol consumption among adolescents and primary health care role in health promotions activities. The quantitative survey was conducted among 11-19 years old adolescents. Overall, 1000 young people were interviewed across Georgia using a standard questionnaire in 2014. The survey sampling methodology was multi-stage probability sampling. All information was analyzed in SPSS 21 version. According to survey results 32.1% (n=256) respondents consume tobacco; 90.5% (n=698) tried alcohol at least once. The 2.5% (n=19) of respondents drink alcohol without limit and the 2.7% (n=21) - drinks frequently. According to survey results, primary health care professionals do rarely talk with young people about healthy life style. It is very essential to implement health promotion topics at primary health care level. There is a need to adopt effective measures, including launching an information campaign focusing on adolescents' awareness that tobacco use and alcohol consumption are harmful to health. There is a need of multi-sectoral integrated approach and increased coordination between different government agencies and international and national programs to improve the adolescent health.