The Utilization of Youth Friendly Sexual and Reproductive Health Services and its Association with Socio-demographic Factors and Knowledge in Nakuru County, Kenya
Year: 2025
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: There are global drives towards supporting adolescents' sexual and reproductive health and rights, access to and use of these services among young people in low- and middle-income countries. However, the utilization of Friendly Sexual and Reproductive Health Services remains inadequate, posing a major challenge to progress in this area. This study aimed to examine the utilization of Youth Friendly Sexual and Reproductive Health Services and its association with socio-demographic factors and knowledge in Nakuru County, Kenya. This was a cross-sectional study done in one county in Kenya purposively selected and involved a sample of 400 youths (10-24 years). The response rate was 90 % (n=400). About two-thirds (64%, n=340) of the sampled youths were affirmative to using the Youth-Friendly Sexual and Reproductive Health Services which is considered suboptimal. Whereby it is evident that Kenya is doing better in the utilization of Youth-Friendly Sexual and Reproductive Health Services than its peer countries in the region, it has not achieved the target of 85% utilization as envisaged in the Adolescent Reproductive Health and Development Plan of Action 2005-2015. The utilization of Youth-Friendly Sexual and Reproductive Health Services of significantly associated with the level of education (x2(2) =0.256, p=0.002) and awareness/being knowledgeable (x2(1) =0.019, p=0.001) on Youth Friendly Sexual and Reproductive Health Services. This study thus recommends that policies and programs to upscale the utilization of Youth-Friendly Sexual and Reproductive Health Services should focus on building a knowledge base for the youths on the said subject. Furthermore, the curriculums should introduce aspects of Youth-Friendly Sexual and Reproductive Health Services early enough in the primary school level to formally expose them to sexual health knowledge and eventually improve utilization
Institution: Egerton University
Language: English
Subfield: General Health Professions
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4410170264