ROAD accidents, pregnancy and childbirth complications, suicide, violence, the Aids virus and tuberculosis are the biggest killers of young people across the world, according to a study published on Friday.

    Researchers supported by the World Health Organisation （WHO） said their study - the first to look at global death rates in those aged 10 to 24 - exposed as myth adolescents' belief that they are stronger and fitter than other age groups.

    In reality, they said, 2.6 million young people are dying each year and most of those deaths are preventable. Some 97 per cent of the deaths were in low- and middle-income countries.

    'Mortality rates in low-income and middle-income countries were almost four-fold higher than were those in high-income countries, a difference that was particularly pronounced for young women,' the authors wrote on their study in The Lancet.

    According to the WHO, there are more young people in the world today than ever before - 1.8 billion 10 to 14 year-olds account for 30 per cent of the world's population.

    But George Patton of the Centre for Adolescent Health and Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Australia, who led the study, said the needs of this age group were often eclipsed by the very young, the elderly or the very sick when governments draw up health policies - an approach he said was increasingly risky as economic development continues.

    'We are seeing a shift of mortality to adolescence with economic development,' Mr Patton told a news conference in London. 'No longer can politicians and those making policy say 'young people are healthy. We don't need to worry'. They do die.'

    Mr Patton's study found that two in five deaths worldwide in this age group were due to injuries and violence, with young men in low and middle-income regions such as eastern Europe and parts of South America at particularly high risk.

    The top cause of adolescent male deaths was road traffic accidents at 14 per cent, followed by violence and suicide. Road accidents were also the biggest overall killer, accounting for 10 per cent of all deaths in the 10 to 24 age group, with suicide next at 6.3 per cent.

    The researchers said this suggested the current focus on Aids and other infectious diseases such as tuberculosis in this age group, while important, was 'an insufficient response'.

    上周五一項研究公布：道路交通事故，懷孕和分娩并發癥，自殺，暴力，艾滋病病毒和肺結核是世界各地的年輕人的最大殺手。

    由世界衛生組織支持的研究人員說，他們的研究--首先是看看10歲至24歲全球的死亡率--揭露關于青少年的神話信念，即相信他們比其他年齡組更強壯更健康。

    他們說，每年有260萬青少年死亡，實際上這些死亡人大部分是可以預防的。這些死亡人的百分之九十七是在低收入和中等收入的國家。

    "低收入和中等收入國家的死亡率近四倍高于高收入國家，尤其是年輕女性死亡率的差異特別明顯"專家們在《柳葉刀》中寫道。

    根據世界衛生組織報道，現在全球的青年人比以往任何時候都更多--10至14歲有1.8億人，占世界人口的百分之三十。

    然而，喬治巴頓，澳大利亞青少年健康中心和默多克兒童研究所的領導，他說，這個年齡組的需求往往被政府制定的幼兒、老人或病重等衛生政策所掩蓋。他說，作為經濟發展中國家，處理這個問題變得越來越困難，

    "我們看到了隨著經濟的發展青少年的死亡率卻在變化，"巴頓先生在倫敦的新聞發布會是說"政治家和政策制定者不能再說'年輕人是健康的，我們不必擔心'.他們確實死了。"

    巴頓先生的研究發現，這一年齡組的全球死亡人數中五分之二是由于受傷和暴力，是低收入和中等收入地區的青年男子，如東歐和南美洲部分地區，特別是在高危險地區。

    男性青少年死亡的最大原因是道路交通事故，占百分之十四，其次是暴力和自殺。道路交通事故也是最大的整體殺手，在10至24歲年齡組的死亡人數中占百分之十，自殺占百分之六點三。

    研究人員稱，這暗示著在這一年齡組中，防治肺結核、艾滋病和其他傳染性疾病是目前的工作重點，而關鍵是"反應不足".