Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Feb 9;18(1):32.
doi: 10.1186/s12978-021-01092-0.

What do service providers in Southern Ethiopia say about barriers to using youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services for adolescents?: Qualitative study

Yitagesu Habtu  1 , Mirgissa Kaba  2 , Hussein Mekonnen  3
Affiliations

What do service providers in Southern Ethiopia say about barriers to using youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services for adolescents?: Qualitative study

Yitagesu Habtu et al. Reprod Health. .

Abstract

Background: In Ethiopia, the utilization coverage of adolescent-friendly health services (AFSRHs) ranged only from 9 to 55% and it was the lowest of all Sub-Saharan African countries in 2016. Little is known why adolescents were not accessing the existing services to the side of healthcare providers.

Objective: The aim of this study is to explore contextual perceived and actual barriers to accessing AFSRHs by adolescents in Southern Ethiopia.

Methods: Phenomenological study design supplemented with observation was used to explore perceived and actual barriers to accessing AFSRHs in 2020. Criterion sampling was used to select study participants. In-depth interviews with healthcare providers and non-specialist sexual and reproductive healthcare providers were conducted. Transcribed interviews and observations were imported to Open Code 4.02 for coding, categorizing, and creating themes. Finally, barriers to accessing existing services were explained using thematic analysis.

Results: The study explores contextual barriers to accessing sexual and reproductive health services in five emergent themes. According to providers' points of view, the barriers include ranging from providers (e.g. poor providers' competency), health facilities (e.g. supply constraints and unsupportive environment), adolescents (e.g. perceived lack of information and attitude towards SRHs), community (e.g. lack of parental and social support), and broader health system (e.g. poor implementation and multi-sectorial engagement).

Conclusion: As to providers, adolescents face multiple barriers to accessing youth friendly sexual and reproductive health services. Healthcare facilities and all levels of the healthcare system should implement varieties of approaches to increase access to the services for adolescents. Given the lack of progress in utilization of adolescents- youth friendly sexual and reproductive services, the existing strategy should be re-evaluated and new interventions at all levels of the healthcare system are needed. Moreover, implementation research is required at system level factors.

Keywords: Adolescent; Barriers; Friendly-sexual and reproductive health service; Providers’ perspective.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

References

    1. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2015). World Population Prospects: The 2015 Revision, DVD Edition. https://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Download/Standard/Population/
    1. WHO. Fact sheet. Adolescents: health risks and solutions. https://www.who.int/news-room/factsheets/detail/adolescents-health-risks.... Accessed on Feb. 2020.
    1. Chandra-Mouli V, Lane C, Wong S. What does not work in adolescent sexual and reproductive health: a review of evidence on interventions commonly accepted as best practices. Glob Health Sci Pract. 2015;3(3):333–340. doi: 10.9745/GHSP-D-15-00126. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization . Adolescent friendly health services: an agenda for change. Geneva: WHO; 2002. pp. 26–27.
    1. Tylee A, Haller DM, Graham T, Churchill R, Sanci LA. Youth-friendly primary-care services: how are we doing and what more needs to be done? Lancet. 2007;369:1565–1573. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(07)60371-7. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources