Interagency Youth Working Group

Young people, especially those who are sexually active, need access to a variety of reproductive health and HIV services. Frequently, youth seek services only when there is an acute illness or problem, such as a symptomatic sexually transmitted infection or pregnancy.

 

Youth often avoid using HIV prevention and other services because of inconvenient hours or location, unfriendly staff, and lack of privacy and confidentiality. Since many young people avoid using these services, special efforts must be made to attract, serve, and retain young clients. When youth do go to health sites, efforts need to be made to meet both the pregnancy and STI/HIV prevention needs of youth, even where clinical services are often separate. Also, youth have said they like to receive services when possible at pharmacies, and some programs are working with pharmacies to serve youth better.

 

Researchers have found that youth-friendly services generally share the following traits:

Adolescent-Friendly Health Services. An Agenda for Change. This document draws on case studies from around the world to provide a rationale for improving health services for adolescents, summarize common health problems adolescents face, and discuss what makes services more adolescent-friendly. It highlights the critical role that adolescents themselves can play, in conjunction with committed adults, to contribute to their own health and well-being. (World Health Organization, 2002)

 

Adolescent-Friendly Health Services. An Impact Model to Evaluate their Effectiveness and Cost. To help programs formulate appropriate questions and establish rationale for evaluation and systematic appraisal of health services, WHO offers a framework/model, including selecting an appropriate package of services, establishing a network of service providers, determining a delivery model, improving the quality of health services provision, and creating a demand for adolescent services. (World Health Organization, 2002)

 

Clinic Assessment of Youth-Friendly Services. A Tool for Assessing and Improving Reproductive Health Services for Youth. This short, hands-on tool is designed for program personnel working on a project to assess and improve youth services. Staff can record data on service delivery and information on 12 youth-friendly characteristics, which are described here. (Pathfinder, 2002)

 

A Rapid Assessment of Youth-Friendly Reproductive Health Services. This tool was developed to facilitate the rapid assessment of youth-friendly characteristics, using the clinic assessment tool described above, providing the basis for developing and implementing a comprehensive action plan. (Pathfinder, 2003)

Applying Social Franchising Techniques to Youth Reproductive Health/HIV Services. This working paper analyzes what role social franchising techniques might have in expanding youth reproductive health/HIV services, with an emphasis on making these services more youth-friendly. It applies critical analysis to four case studies of programs using social franchising techniques for youth, including how friendly the services were to youth. (Family Health International/YouthNet, 2003)

 

Creating Youth-Friendly Pharmacies. Pharmacies are an underused resource for providing reproductive health information and services to youth. Pilot programs have helped pharmacies function in a more youth-friendly way and make these services better known to youth. (Family Health International/YouthNet, 2005)

 

Making Services Youth Friendly with Limited Resources. The success of relatively small, low-cost projects shows that with creativity, well-targeted actions, and youth involvement, just a small investment can have significant impact on the quality of services youth receive. (International Planned Parenthood Federation, 2005)

 

Youth-Friendly Pharmacies and Partnerships: The CMS-CELSAM Experience. The Commercial Market Strategies project developed a network of youth-friendly pharmacies to provide reproductive health information and contraceptives to youth in Guanajuato, Mexico. This report documents lessons learned in the design, development, and implementation of the youth-friendly pharmacy model. (USAID/PSP-One, 2005)

 

Franchised Youth Clinics Motivate Behavior Change in Madagascar. A study of franchised youth clinics in Madagascar demonstrates that the program contributed to removing barriers to condom use and motivated sexually experienced young people to use condoms. (PSI, 2004)

Adolescent Contraceptive Counseling Cue Cards. These colorful and user-friendly job aids for providers are designed to offer helpful information and tips specific to the reproductive health needs of youth. Each of the eight cards covers a contraceptive method, from male condoms and IUDs to injectable contraceptives and lactational amenorrhea. (Pathfinder)

 

Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health: A Training Manual for Program Managers. This manual provides comprehensive training for providers on youth perspectives and needs, behavior change issues, life skills, youth-friendly services, monitoring and evaluation, and more. The manual, available in English and Spanish, is based on training processes directed by PROFAMILIA/Colombia over the past decade. (CEDPA, Profamilia/Colombia, 2003)

 

Meeting the Needs of Young Clients: A Guide to Providing Reproductive Health Services to Adolescents. This desk-reference-sized handbook is designed to help service providers and health workers strengthen the reproductive health care and services offered to adolescents. It covers barriers to good reproductive health care, pregnancy prevention, prevention of STIs and HIV, counseling, strategies to make services more youth-friendly, and importance of building a referral network. (Family Health International, 2000)

 

Comprehensive Reproductive Health and Family Planning Training Curriculum Module 16: Reproductive Health Services for Adolescents (PDF, 1.56 MB). This module includes sections to sensitize providers to the needs of adolescents and to prepare them to offer reproductive health services in a way that is youth-friendly. It emphasizes dual protection against STI/HIV and pregnancy, safer sex, counseling, care for pregnant adolescents, and issues related to gender, sexual abuse, and sexual orientation. (Pathfinder, 2004)

 

Reproductive Health of Young Adults Training Module. This Web-based training module is designed to increase the awareness and understanding of the reproductive health needs of young adults among policy-makers, program directors, program planners, and health care providers. The module has sections on overview issues, information and services young adults need, contraceptive options, and issues regarding STI/HIV prevention and treatment. The modules can be used either as an interactive self-study program or as a participatory, group training experience with PowerPoint slideshow, presenter’s notes, and other resources. (Family Health International, 2003)

 

The WHO Orientation Programme on Adolescent Health for Health-Care Providers. This comprehensive program for providers contains a planning and preparation section and nine training modules covering the meaning of adolescence, adolescent sexual and reproductive health, adolescent-friendly health services, sexually transmitted infections in adolescents, care of adolescent pregnancy and childbirth, unsafe abortion in adolescents, pregnancy prevention, and other topics. Some modules have multiple sessions. Only selected modules are available online, but the entire module can be ordered on a CD ROM or in printed form. (World Health Organization, 2004)

 

Youth-Friendly Pharmacy Program Implementation Kit CD-ROM. The comprehensive kit includes the only training curriculum for pharmacy personnel available. Available online in five segments, it provides tools for all aspects of developing and implementing a project working with pharmacies on youth reproductive health issues. (Path, 2004)

 

Youth-Friendly Services: A Manual for Service Providers. This comprehensive curriculum covers biases toward serving youth, provider values, adolescent development, contraception and STIs/HIV, effective communication and counseling skills, and other issues. It talks about creating youth-friendly services through a system called COPE (client-oriented, provider efficient). You can download segments of the manual. (EngenderHealth, 2002)