A STRATEGY for the protection of children's health, from conception to adolescence, is to be piloted in the North West.
Details of the strategy, which will work closely with schools and colleges, will be announced today by the Health Protection Agency chief executive Prof Pat Troop.
She said: "Looking after the health of mothers and children is the best investment we can make for the future.
"Children are more vulnerable than adults to disease and environmental hazards.
"They are at risk from conception to puberty to factors that are often outside their control.
"Furthermore, the habits of lifestyle that they adopt as teenagers will often have a major bearing on their future well-being."
Nearly 70 per cent of premature deaths amongst adults, she said, resulted from patterns of behaviour adopted in adolescence.
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