81. How Well do the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Capture Adolescent Health? A Systematic Mapping of Age Disaggregation, Relevance and Gaps Across the SDG indiCators

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) constitute one of the most ambitious frameworks globally, yet the extent to which it covers the unique priorities and vulnerabilities of adolescents is unclear. We aimed to assess how well the SDGs capture different domains of adolescent health including age disaggregation of indicators; and how the priority indicators recommended by the Global Action for Measurement of Adolescent Health (GAMA) Advisory Group (AG) can complement the SDG framework. First, we reviewed the SDG metadata repository to systematically map all 248 indicators according to: a) age ranges of indicators overlapping with the adolescent period (10-19 years); and b) age disaggregation based on including age in the indicator definition, or by mandating disaggregation in the metadata. Second, we categorized each SDG indicator as directly, closely or remotely related to adolescent health measurement according to six domains: 1) health determinants; 2) health behaviors/risks; 3) policies/programs/laws; 4) systems performance/interventions; 5) subjective well-being; 6) health outcomes/conditions. Third, we reviewed each of the 52 adolescent health priority indicators recommended by the GAMA AG according to whether they: directly overlap; modify; or support achievement of an SDG even if absent from the official monitoring framework. Of the 248 SDG indicators, 35 (14.1%) target an age range overlapping with adolescence, mainly focusing on ages 15+ years. Additionally, 33 indicators (13.3%) across the SDG framework explicitly call for age disaggregation. Only one indicator, SDG 3.7.2 “Adolescent birth rate,” covers the entire 10-19 age range. We classified almost half (46.4%, N=115) of the SDG indicators as directly related to adolescent health measurement, and one third (34.2%, N=85) as closely related. These selected indicators mostly focused on health determinants and outcomes, while none were linked to either policies or subjective well-being. Overall, 34 indicators (13.7%) were found to overlap with ages 10-19 and to be directly relevant to at least one adolescent health measurement area. However, of these only 15 – 6.0% of all SDG indicators – were found to explicitly mandate age disaggregation. Most of these fall within SDG 4 (education), SDG 5 (gender equality), SDG 8 (decent work) and SDG 3 (good health). Among the 52 adolescent health priority indicators recommended by the GAMA AG, four were directly drawn from the SDGs, and 13 were adaptations. Several priority indicators were found to complement the SDG framework by shedding light on aspects not tracked, such as obesity, mental health, physical activity and bullying among 10-19-year-olds. The SDG framework must be complemented to address gaps in adolescent health monitoring, currently captured by only 6% of SDG indicators. The GAMA AG priority indicators can contribute towards filling this gap, both via age-disaggregated adaptations, and by tracking aspects of adolescent health that can help achieve broader goals (e.g., obesity and SDG 2 on improved nutrition). Doing so can enable governments and other key stakeholders to (better) understand the adolescent health profile of their countries and prioritize investment.