Young people nowadays face a range of threats to their health and well-being which were barely dreamed of by earlier generations. Drugs abuse, AIDS, teenage pregnancy and its consequences....These things and others should all be in the forefront of the minds of today's teenagers if they want to make their way safely and sensibly into adulthood.

But there are other health matters which should concern them, too, because the wrong sort of lifestyle adopted early on - such as smoking, heavy drinking or poor dietary habits - can have long-term ramifications which might well not show up until middle age or beyond.

So it makes sense in several ways to involve young people in an organisation designed to plan the future of health services for the Bradford district. The setting-up of a youth forum by the Bradford Health Authority is an excellent idea inspired by a group of youngsters from Tong School.

As part of their GNVQ in health and social care, they formed a shadow Community Health Council and came up with a wide range of proposals on matters as diverse as sex education, domestic violence and anti-drugs advice centres.

It was a shrewd move by the CHC to take the sixth-formers' report to the health authority and suggest the setting-up of the youth forum. Young people can often offer a point of view which eludes older people.

The more of them who are encouraged to think seriously about health matters, the better it must be for the health of the district both in the short-term and long-term.