New Delhi: India is set to host this weekend a quadrennial global conference on adolescent health that will discuss self-harm, substance abuse, obesity and risk-taking behaviour on the Internet among other risks to the health of young people.

About a 1,000 delegates, including public health experts, paediatricians, mental health experts, and health policy-makers, are expected to attend the eleventh World Congress on Adolescent Health, a three-day conference that opens here on October 27, organisers said.

The meetings will discuss the myriad health challenges faced by people in the age group of 10 to 19 years, including online risk-taking behaviour and negative experiences on digital social media networks as well as strategies to alleviate these risks.

"Adolescence is perceived as the healthiest period of life, yet young people around the world face many threats to health," said Susan Sawyer, Chair of adolescent health at the University of Melbourne, Australia, and president of the International Association for Adolescent Health.

Road injuries and self-harm, or suicides, among young people are among big worries in India, conference organisers said.

A nationwide study five years ago had suggested that suicides claim more lives among people in India between 15 and 29 years of age than any other disease. The analysis had estimated that road accidents killed 48,000 people and suicides had claimed 43,000 lives in India during 2010.

Conference delegates are also expected to exchange notes on obesity trends, tobacco and alcohol abuse, gender issues, violence, and school-based interventions to tackle such health risks. "Addressing such issues during adolescence is critical as the formative years of adolescence can shape future behaviour," said David Ross, a medical officer in the department of maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health at the World Health Organisation, Geneva, a conference organiser.

New research to be presented at the conference includes:

• A study from Bihar revealing how family and school environments engender and perpetuate boys' attitudes relating to violence against women,

• A study from Punjab and Tamil Nadu suggesting that Indian students are more likely to take risks on the Internet than French students, and

• An analysis of over 446,000 phone calls by adolescents in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Karnataka to determine what troubles young people into making calls to "helplines".