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Review
. 2015 Jul-Sep;40(3):193-7.
doi: 10.4103/0970-0218.158868.

Defining and Measuring Vulnerability in Young People

Shilpa Khanna Arora  1 , Dheeraj Shah  2 , Sanjay Chaturvedi  3 , Piyush Gupta  2
Affiliations
Review

Defining and Measuring Vulnerability in Young People

Shilpa Khanna Arora et al. Indian J Community Med. 2015 Jul-Sep.

Abstract

Adolescents and youth, together addressed as "young people", form the future building blocks of any society. They being most energetic and dynamic, tend to get involved in high-risk behaviors making themselves susceptible to criminal offences, accidents, physical injuries, emotional trauma, and medical problems - some of them extremely serious like transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The concept of vulnerability is applicable to all the people who are more exposed to risks than their peers like the young people. In order to deal with social evils like criminal offences, domestic violence, sexual abuse, HIV, etc. we need to define vulnerability and understand the factors that influence it. This review also attempts to summarize the indicators of vulnerability and the data currently available to estimate its burden in India. Measuring the magnitude of vulnerability by means of certain indicators/variables might help us in devising tools to assess this poorly defined entity. This may also evolve a conceptual framework on which targeted remedial interventions can be devised and implemented.

Keywords: Adolescents; children; vulnerability; young people.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Factors determining and influencing vulnerability
Figure 2
Figure 2
World Bank's downward spiral of childhood vulnerability. It simply depicts that with each shock, the child goes down further reaching a new level of vulnerability, and with each level he/ she is exposed to a host of new risks. It also emphasizes the fact that the earlier (higher up in the spiral) the intervention is made, the more cost-effective it is likely to be. [Source: World Bank: OVC Core Definitions](4)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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    1. World Bank. OVC Core Definitions. [Last accessed on 2015 Apr 15]. Available from: http://info.worldbank.org/etools/docs/library/164047/howknow/definitions... .
    1. Geneva: World Vision International/HIV/AIDS Hope Initiative; 2002. World Vision. Summary of OVC Programming Approaches.