The world's oldest international public health organization has introduced its first mobile app, to help professionals track the health, fitness and safety of students and other adolescent populations.

Called eGSHS, the iPhone/iPad app from the 110-year-old Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) is a mobile version of the widely used Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS). This survey monitors the health and behaviors of people aged 13 to 15 in more than 30 countries throughout the Americas, taking measures of diet, physical activity, hygiene, alcohol consumption, drug and tobacco use, violence and unintentional injuries, sexual and reproductive health, and mental health.

The PAHO and WHO launched the app last week at the Ninth Regional Congress on Health Sciences Information in Washington. PAHO is effectively the WHO's regional office for the Americas.

The app allows health professionals to visualize and share survey results with colleagues and public-health authorities. It also lets users make comparisons across populations within and across cities and countries.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Prevention and Control, which helped develop the GSHS, the survey has been in use across the Western Hemisphere since 2003. The survey is intended to help identify trends in health behaviors and assist countries in developing policies for youth health programs.

For more about the app, PAHO offers this video in Spanish.