Access and utilization of Youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health is still a big challenge for the youth, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite the global treaties on adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health and rights, access to and application of these services among the youth/adolescents remain unsatisfactory in low and middle-income countries which is a substantial barrier to progress in this area. The key barriers are;
The inadequate number of youth-friendly service providers in health facilities. which has hindered access to youth-friendly services among the youth. This calls for investment in capacity strengthening and onboarding new personnel to improve the quality of services offered to adolescents and young people in health facilities. Limited access to correct and factual sexual and reproductive health information among AGYW.
With various unverified sources of information, an adolescent girl or young woman might want to believe that they are informed leading to uninformed decisions and poor reproductive health outcomes. There is a need for harmonized correct and factual reproductive health information that is easily accessible to all AGYW. Retrogressive cultural practices have placed communities at serious risk of poor reproductive health outcomes making young people prone to contracting sexually transmitted diseases as well as denial to access services.
In conclusion, there’s a need to educate and train the youth to know more about the reproductive health services being provided at youth-friendly centers and their engagement in the design and implementation of interventions targeting them
