Infectious diseaseThanks to improved childhood vaccination, adolescent deaths and disability from measles have fallen markedly – for example, adolescent mortality from measles fell by 90% between 2000 and 2012.
Diarrhoea and lower respiratory tract infections (pneumonia) are estimated to be among the top 10 causes of death for adolescents 10–14 years.
Infectious diseases like with Human Papilloma Virus that normally occurs after onset of sexual activity can lead to both short-term disease (genital warts) during adolescence but more importantly also leads to cervical and other cancers several decades later. Early adolescence (9-14 years) is the optimal time for vaccination against HPV infection and it is estimated that if 90% of girls globally get the HPV vaccine more than 40 million lives could be saved over the next century. However, it is estimated that in 2019 only 15% of girls globally received the vaccine.