Teenage Pregnancy

According to surveys, most UK teenagers would avoid pregnancy, and many teenage pregnancies are a mistake. Nevertheless, around 56,000 babies are born to teenage mothers in the UK every year.
For some teenagers, becoming a parent may not be a problem. Yet there are many teenagers who wish they had waited until they were older. Becoming a parent can be a scary, life-changing situation. It can put an end to school days or job plans, and teenage parents may not be ready or experienced enough to look after a child.

Rates of teenage pregnancy vary within the UK too and according to the Family Policy Studies Centre, women in poor inner city areas are six times more likely to get pregnant by the time they are 20 than in wealthier areas.
In 1999, the UK government announced plans to halve the rate of teenage pregnancy by 2010. Reproductive health care is seen as an important way of reaching this target without treating pregnant teenagers as bad or stupid. Instead, with effective reproductive health care, young people can learn the different choices available to prevent pregnancy if they choose to, and teenage parents can receive the support that they need.

Teenagers Worries about a pregnancy they have neither planned nor expected, many young women are forced to drop out of school or give up their jobs. Few know where to go for support.
Young men need support too yet their needs are often overlooked by family planning services. Nevertheless, young men need to learn to take responsibility for their sexual activity, whether to avoid STIs or to understand their roles as fathers.
Some projects are trying to give a real voice to young people, and find ways to help them on their own terms.

http://www.optimumpopulation.org/opt.more.famplan.html

Drama Motel: Smoking

Drama Motel: Smoking

What are Junk foods

Junk food is a term describing food that is perceived to be unhealthy or having poor nutritional value, according to Food Standards Agency. Junk food typically contains high levels of fat, salt or sugar and numerous food additives such as monosodium glutamate and tartrazine; at the same time, it is lacking in proteins, vitamins and fiber, among others. It is popular with suppliers because it is relatively cheap to manufacture, has a long shelf life and may not require refrigeration. It is popular with consumers because it is easy to purchase, requires little or no preparation, is convenient to consume and has lots of flavor. Consumption of junk food is associated with obesity, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and dental cavities. There is also concern about the targeting of marketing at children.
fast food outlets such as hamburgers, and french fries supplied by companies such as McDonald's, KFC and Pizza Hut are often perceived as junk food whereas the same meals supplied by more up-market outlets such as Pizza Express or Nando's are not despite often having the same or worse nutritional content. Other foods such as Foie Gras, roast potatoes and bread are not considered junk food despite having limited nutritional content. Similarly, Breakfast cereals are often regarded as healthy but may have high levels of sugar, salt and fat.
Many critics believe that junk food is not harmful when consumed as part of a balanced diet and some believe that the term should not be used at all.
Many people see some foods as 'good' and some foods as 'bad' and feel they are helping their health when they are eating 'good' foods and not when eating 'bad'. Healthy eating is all about achieving a balanced diet and to achieve this you should eat a variety of foods in moderation. Healthy eating can be achieved by following the Balance of Good Health (BOGH). This is a visual representation of how to achieve a balanced diet and is the UK National Food Guide:
http://www.foodcomm.org.uk/

Smoking

Smoking

Did you know smoking can cause hair loss, cataracts, wrinkles, deafness, mouth ulcers, rashes and tooth decay and its never too late to help yourself.

Most smokers are aware of the dangers of smoking and may think that they have a right to smoke; after all, it is not against the law. Perhaps it is not so simple. When a smoker ends up in hospital needing treatment for emphysema, or lung cancer, their treatment costs money. The National Health Service is paid for out of our taxes and their disease costs us money.

Smoking is an addiction, Smoking harms not just the smoker, but also family members, coworkers and others who breathe the smoker's cigarette smoke, called secondhand smoke.
Among infants to 18 months of age, secondhand smoke is associated with as many as 300,000 cases of bronchitis and pneumonia each year. Secondhand smoke from a parent's cigarette increases a child's chances for middle ear problems, causes coughing and wheezing, and worsens asthma conditions.
If both parents smoke, a teenager is more than twice as likely to smoke than a young person whose parents are both non-smokers. In households where only one parent smokes, young people are also more likely to start smoking.
Pregnant women who smoke are more likely to deliver babies whose weights are too low for the babies' good health. If all women quit smoking during pregnancy, about 4,000 new babies would not die each year.

http://www.peakofhealth.ch/smoke_main.html