By Daniel Odeke
The Unmet need for contraception remains high. This inequality is fuelled by both a growing population and a shortage of family planning services. According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), 24.2% of women in Africa who are of reproductive age have an unmet need for modern contraception. This registers a need for translating to an intervention to improve, access, retention and services tailored to meet this unique need for adolescents and young people, comprising of a non-judgmental and positive attitude towards adolescents and youths. Health providers with a history of negative attitudes towards the said group have been cited so many times by the group as a major challenge in them accessing not just contraceptive products and services, but Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) products and services too at health facilities in their communities.
A study conducted by Epic Youth Organization to demonstrate the influence of youth-friendly health providers in retaining adolescent girls and young women accessing contraceptives in Mlaleo CDF Health Centre showed very interesting results. From adolescents and young girls preferring to use short-term methods, having hypothetical choices, preferring health facilities with friendly and kind providers regardless of waiting time, distance from home, visit frequency or operating hours to the willingness to accept a longer waiting time (5 hours as opposed to no wait in ‘non-friendly health facility) and preferring to be served by a young health provider as opposed to an older healthcare provider. These findings point to a desperate need among adolescent girls and young people to receive and access Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) services from what they term as ‘Friendly’ Sexual and Reproductive Health facilities and centres, calling out the central and county governments, as well as their partners in SRH matter to make the existing facilities and centres ‘friendly’ if not ‘Youth-Friendly’ for that matter. Even though this study focused on girls and young women, it’s not far-reaching to state that the same applies equivocally to adolescent boys and young men too.
The fact that an adolescent or a young person would be willing to relinquish convenience to access client-centred providers or services in the modern-day, especially when it regards sexual and reproductive health needs, is very disturbing. There is thus a dire need for health providers and SRH services to adopt a ‘Friendly’ perspective in their standard operating procedures. This will improve not just access to contraceptive and SRH services but also positively influence the retention of adolescents and young people’s access to contraceptives. In a bid to satisfy adolescent and young people’s preferences and enhance the quality of client experience, programs, facilities, and initiatives need to invest in health provider’s training and sensitization.
Times have changed, how sexual and reproductive health was viewed a decade ago is nowhere close to how it is viewed now. The current generation of adolescents and young people are programmatic, they know what they want, and they want what they want. It will be foolish of us not to acknowledge this.
Daniel Odeke is an SRHR Advocate at NAYA Kenya.
