A new report warns that young people across the world are facing increasing risks to their health, with local health experts and professionals noting youth on Long Island are dealing with many of the issues seen across the globe.

Those ages 10-24 are confronting rising rates of chronic diseases, mental disorders and obesity, according to researchers with the second Lancet Commission, a group of experts calling for urgent action.

"The health and well-being of adolescents worldwide is at a tipping point, with mixed progress observed over the past three decades," Sarah Baird, commission co-chair, said in statement. 

Increased health risks are being fueled by several factors, including "harm and misinformation provided by the digital world, to climate anxiety, to conflict, to a rapidly changing policy environment," Baird, a professor at George Washington University, told Newsday in an email.

This generation is being raised in a transformative age, with expanding digital technology, an increasingly warmer planet, growing marketing of unhealthy foods and more conflict, according to the report.

All these issues have been compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the report. If the issues are not managed, more than 1 billion adolescents worldwide, or half the world’s young people, will "experience a complex and excess burden of disease," the report states.

Some major trends seen worldwide of increasing mental health issues, obesity and stress from climate change are evident on Long Island, several experts told Newsday. Two Hicksville High School professionals explained how they are extending resources to help students.

Dr. Victor Fornari, director of child and adolescent psychiatry at Zucker Hillside Hospital, said there are "pockets of significant poverty and adversity" in the region. Some youth lack access to nutritious food, are living more sedentary lifestyles and are exposed to trauma that can hinder their development, Fornari and other experts said.

"Our youth are growing up with families that are more stressed with economic hardship, parental medical illness, parental mental health problems, parental substance use and, in many cases, the children and adolescents are charged with caring for the parent," he said.

"Families are very stressed," Fornari said.

Meshack Achore, assistant professor of population health at Hofstra University, said adolescents on the Island have been exposed to extreme weather events. In recent years, the region has experienced major floods, heat waves and brush fires. He said environmental instability can cause "growing anxiety" among teens, especially those who have been displaced or whose homes have been damaged. Extreme weather events can hinder access to work and also cause food insecurity, Achore said. 

"The global risk factors are deeply relevant to Long Island, where the local conditions are mirroring or tend to amplify the global trends," he said. "The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration projects that sea levels along the Island could rise up to 30 inches by 2050, which is significantly increasing flood risk in communities like Freeport and Long Beach,"Achore said. 

Genna Popovich Hymowitz, a psychologist at the Stony Brook Medicine Bariatric and Metabolic Weight Loss Center in New York, said in an email that "youth are dealing with both weight difficulties and mental health concerns at alarming rates."

According to the report, there is also the issue of funding, which does not sufficiently address need. "Recent dramatic reductions in foreign aid by major donors such as the USA, the UK, and other wealthy countries, further threaten adolescent health," the report states.

Policy changes and shifting investment priorities in the U.S. could have ramifications for young people, experts said. 

"Many of these safety-net kinds of programs are being threatened now by economic concerns and changes in funding," Fornari said. "There's a concern they may be disappearing."

While the report notes there are benefits from technology, it finds harms from "cyberbullying, violent and sexualized content, and dangerous misinformation."

Jaclene Jason, licensed clinical psychologist at South Oaks Hospital, said that limiting screen time has benefits. Jason said schools in regions that have implemented cellphone-free schools have experienced "reduced bullying, reduced stress reported by the students, an increase in academic performance and grades, and an increase in teachers’ reports of students being engaged," she said. Starting in September, students in New York will be banned from using smartphones in school. 

While substance use of tobacco and alcohol has decreased, the analysis projects that "a third of adolescents will be overweight or obese in 2030 in Latin America, the Middle East, and in high-income countries."

The report also notes that in the U.S. more people between the ages of 15 and 19 die from homicide and assaults than suicide.

Jason and Hymowitz, both psychologists, said there are ways to combat the threats highlighted in the report, including by fostering relationships with families and engaging in activities outside the home. Technology can be isolating, they said. 

Jason said it's important to help students build healthy habits and "understand the importance and routine of going outside, of exercising regularly, of having healthy sleep habits, of making sure that we're socially connecting, that we're doing things that add value to our lives," she said.

At Hicksville High School, two staffers spoke about their outreach to students and families. LindsayAvrutine, a social worker at the high school, said she sees some students struggling with problems mentioned in the report.

"Every day on the ground, we see how various issues affect our students’ mental health. My job every morning, when I walk into the building, is to work toward addressing that," Avrutine said, adding they use a variety of interventions to help.

Combined investments can make a difference in a young person’s life, experts said.

"Community support, public investment, and informed parenting are critical to reaping ... benefits to adolescents now, their adult future, and the next generation," Augustina "Tina" Mensa-Kwao, a youth commissioner who worked on the analysis, said in an email.