The rapid physical, emotional and social changes across the adolescent period pose special challenges for adolescent health and well-being programmes, making it essential to disaggregate data by age (five-year age groups) and sex. 

Furthermore, health determinants, risk and protective factors and outcomes are rarely distributed equally in populations, and health programmes reach different subpopulations to differing degrees. Ignoring these unequal distributions may mean that the needs of particular subpopulations remain unaddressed. 

Programmes should review all national systems for health data collection and find ways to incorporate a focus on adolescents, including on young adolescents and those out of school, in their efforts to measure the performance of primary care or progress towards Universal Health Coverage.