Making Reproductive Health Services Youth Friendly

Published by the FOCUS project of Pathfinder International, this 43-page paper aims to provide an overview of the challenges of providing youth-friendly services and recommends strategies that organisations can implement in order to overcome these barriers.

Excerpts from the Executive Summary
"There is a growing recognition among reproductive health providers throughout the world that 'youth-friendly' services are needed if young people are to be adequately provided with reproductive health care. Such services are able to effectively attract young people, meet their needs comfortably and responsively, and succeed in retaining these young clients for continuing care. Whether services are provided in a clinical setting, in a youth center or at a workplace or through outreach to informal venues, certain youth-friendly characteristics are essential to effective programs. Basic components include specially trained providers, privacy, confidentiality, and accessibility."

"...Given that young people tend not to use existing reproductive health services, specialized approaches must be established to attract, serve, and retain young clients. From young people’s points of view, they face many barriers to service use, including laws and policies that may restrict their access to affordable services and useful information, embarrassment at being seen at clinics, fear that confidentiality will not be honored, and concern that staff members will be hostile and judgmental. Many operational barriers also exist, such as inconvenient operating times, lack of transportation, and high cost of services.

Many of these barriers can be addressed by programs serving young people. Perhaps the single most important action any reproductive health program for young adults can implement is the selection, training, and supervision of staff members to work with adolescents, with a major emphasis on attitude, respect for young people, and the development of interpersonal skills to promote good provider-client communication. Other provider characteristics that programs should consider include an emphasis on privacy and confidentiality, the allowance of adequate time for discussion, and the availability of trained peers as a counseling option."