Young people’s experiences in accessing sexual and reproductive health services in sub-Saharan Africa: a content analysis

Sulemana Abubakari, University of Ghana
Mumuni Abu, University of Ghana
Delali M. Badasu, University of Ghana

Increasing resources have been targeted at addressing the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) needs of the young people since the ICPD in 1994. Yet after two decades, the adoption of SRH services by the young people is very low, particularly among those in sub-Saharan Africa. A content analysis was used for both quantitative and qualitative studies aimed at finding out possible reasons for the low adoption. The analysis identified three major categories of service-accessibility, utilization and quality. The review showed that most of the barriers to SRH services by the young people could be linked to the negative attitude of health service providers as well as misconceptions on SRH services from the young people. There is the need to intensify training of providers on youth friendly SRH services as well as intensify education of the young people on misconceptions about SRH services to improve adoption.