How Friendly Are The Reproductive Health Services Of Model Youth Centers In Addis Ababa

Background:- Youth sexuality and reproductive health are generally not well addressed. As arnresult, problems like unwanted pregnancy, complications of unsafe abortion, and STIrnincluding HIV/AIDS remain very common, particularly, in the developing countries such asrnEthiopia.rnObjective and methodology:-A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted to assess thernfriendliness of reproductive health services provided by model youth centers in AddisrnAbaba. The Assessments had focused on facility inventory, providers’ attitude,rninteraction of providers with youth and service characteristics. Observation, keyrninformants interview, focus group discussions and exit interviews were the methods usedrnand Data was collected from February to March, 2007.rnResult:- Currently, Reproductive Health services like family planning counseling,rncontraceptives provisions, pregnancy test, STI diagnosis and treatment, VCT and other relatedrncounseling are being delivered by the youth centers. More female clients were using thernservices during the time of data collection than their male counterparts and 44.8% of youthrncenters clients were found to be out of the primary target age group (>25 years). Thernutilization of the existing services by the age group 10-14 was found to be very law. Majorityrnof the clients sought VCT services (52.6%) and only around 18 % of the total interviewedrnclients came for contraceptives. About 9 and 30% of the respondents were asked to bringrnparental and partner permission respectively for service utilization. Approximately 89%,rn78.7% and 90% of the respondents agreed in getting completed services, in providers’rnconfidential handling and short waiting time respectively. Overall 92.7% of the clients werernsatisfied with the services they had received.rnDiscussion and Conclusion: - on the bases of the above findings one can concluded thatrnaddressing early adolescent age group (10-14 yrs) was overlooked by the centers. Sub optimalrnservices friendliness was observed in placing and using appropriate guidelines and policesrnregarding youth friendly service provision. In addition, RH service providers of the centersrnhad not received any training in respect to delivering friendly services to youth. The need ofrnviirnintensifying reproductive health educations and addressing early adolescents (10-14) shouldrnbe the priority concern of the centers and peer education is the most effective tool identified

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