Morning Briefing

"Young people today face greater risks to their physical and mental health than generations past, new research has found, with adolescents in the developing world rapidly acquiring the unhealthy habits of their wealthier counterparts," the Financial Times reports. A series of studies published on Wednesday in the Lancet "present a general portrait of increasing hazard due to drug and alcohol abuse, unprotected sex, violence and inadequate employment opportunities," the newspaper writes (Rowland, 4/25). Decreasing child mortality rates have led "to the largest generation of adolescents in history: 1.2 billion to be exact," CNN's "The Chart" blog notes, adding, "As many of those teens face poverty, natural disasters and wars in addition to overwhelming physical and emotional changes, researchers worry about the lack of available health resources" (4/24).