Abstract:
Objective: This study aims at assessing the utilization of youth
friendly health services in Kutus and KerugoyaYouth Health Centres
in Kirinyaga County. Design: A descriptive cross sectional study.
Setting: Kutus and Kerugoya Youth Health Centers in Kirinyaga
County.Subjects: Youth aged 15-24 years who reside in Kerugoya and
Kutus towns, Kirinyaga County. Results: The study showed that socio cultural factors, level of awareness and socio-economic factors were
the challenges to utilization of reproductive health care services among
the youth in Kerugoya and Kutus Health Centers in Kirinyaga County.
Religious and cultural beliefs showed significant relationship to
utilization of available reproductive health services. Mainstream
media, parents and siblings had minimal contribution in educating the
youth about youth friendly reproductive health services whereby the
youth had to get reproductive health information from their friends.
Reproductive health services not being affordable to the adolescents
and the youths made the much needed services inaccessible.
Conclusion: Socio-cultural factors, level of awareness and socio economic factors had a significant influence on utilization of Youth
Friendly Health Services such as family planning, counseling,
voluntary testing of HIV and antenatal services. Copyright: © 2022 the
Authors. Published by Publisher. This is an open access article under
the CC BY-NC-ND license (https:/creativecommons.org /licenses/by nc-nd/4.0/)
