Abstract:
Summary: • Extant and new formal life skills education and harm minimisation programmes must be subject to formal evaluation for efficacy. • Where justified, programmes must be provided by appropriately trained teachers/ mentors. It is necessary to identify programmes designed for universal use and those for high-risk populations; given the situation of high teenage morbidity in New Zealand, such programmes would be a priority. • They must be provided in an age-specific manner, be validated, continually monitored and shown to be effective in the New Zealand context. • Consideration should be given to introducing more intensive and formal nutritional education as the evidence suggests that it is effective with respect to the obesity epidemic.