Adolescent friendly health services: where are we actually standing?

Abstract

Background: Services for adolescents are highly fragmented, poorly coordinated and uneven in quality. Adolescent-friendly services (AFHS) should be able to attract young people, meet their needs comfortably and with sensitivity, and retain young clients for continuing care. With this background, the present study was carried out to study the implementation status of Adolescent friendly health services and to determine compliance with quality standards.Methods: Present cross sectional study was carried out at 10 Urban Health Centers of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. Study population comprised of adolescents (10 to 19 years). All adolescents aged 10 to 19 years (n=99) and all health care providers present at the time of visit at the facility were interviewed. Data was collected using WHO quality measurement tools. Data was analyzed using WHO scoring sheet for data analysis.Results: Relative score for confidentiality, privacy, equitability, accessibility and knowledge gap in adolescent is 58.3%. Relative score for health care providers’ competencies to work with adolescents and to provide them with required services is 42.6%. Relative score for Observation tool used for facility inventory is 45.6%. Overall relative score is 47.3% of maximum possible score.Conclusions:As the score is near to the lower limit of class interval of 40% to 80%, it implies need of improvement.