Knowledge about Sexual and Reproductive Health Services and Practice of What Is Known among Ghanaian Youth, a Mixed Method Approach

Most young person will become sexually active before their 20th birthday having to battle with early and unplanned pregnancies, unsafe abortions, maternal deaths and injuries. This study examined young person’s sexual knowledge, attitudes and practices and their levels of utilization of sexual reproductive health. Our study progresses beyond current research of reporting only sexual behaviour among youth to have insight into sexual and reproductive health update drivers yielding new empirically robust results for the Ghanaian case for sexual and reproductive health service uptake. The descriptively cross sectional design was employed in sampling 170 youth (150 surveyed and 20 Interviewed) using the stratified sampling technique together with a purposive selection of one key informant. Test of significance and associations were performed with the Chisquare test. In all 45.2% (77/170) of youth (10 - 24) had had sexual experience in life time. In respect of in-school youth, 42% (63/150) had had sexual experience whiles 70% (14/20) out-of-school youth had had sexual intercourse in life time. A total of 28.8% (49/170) of all the youth had sexual intercourse in the last six months with only 40.1 (20/49) using condom for protection. Parental discussion of contraceptive methods (29.3%) and sexual and romantic relationship (28.0%) was the least sexual and reproductive health area discussed among in-school youth. Youth knowledge of the available sexual reproductive health service was statistically associated with reproductive health service utilization (X2 = 0.00, P ≤ 0.05). A concerted effort is required from government, NGO, Civil society organizations and religious bodies to help translate youth knowledge about sexual health into responsible sexual life and protective sex.

Access to Reproductive Health Services for Adolescents in the Educational System, Phetchaburi Province

This study was based on a descriptive research design. The population comprised of males and females aged between 15 and 19 years studying at the high school, college, and university levels in Phetchaburi, Thailand. The sample group size was calculated by using Taro Yamane＇s formula at a reliability level of .95. The instrument used was the questionnaire of College of Public Health as modified by Chulalongkorn University for use in research. Instrument quality was calculated by using the Kuder-Richardson 20 formula; an internal consistency value of.86 was obtained. According to the findings, the comparison of access to reproductive health services by adolescents at each level of education, the educational levels of the adolescents were similar to one another in that they were found to have received instruction about sexuality and reproductive health. The instruction most frequently received was on reproductive health and the least frequent subject was life skills, ability to adjust to daily lifestyles. The findings suggested that the capacity of medical and academic personnel should be developed in order to gain knowledge, attitudes to provide reproductive health services, especially on subjects concerning life skills and ability to adjust to daily life and interacting with the people surrounding adolescents, including skills on how to refuse sexual activity with partners.

Sexual and reproductive health service needs of university/ college students： updates from a survey in Shanghai, China

Aim： To promote the provision of reproductive health services to young people by exploring the attitudes and perceptions of university students in Shanghai, China, toward reproductive health. Methods： From July 2004 to May 2006, 5 243 students from 14 universities in Shanghai took part in our survey. Topics covered the demands of reproductive health-care services, attitudes towards and experience with sex, exposure to pornographic material, and knowledge on sexual health and sexually transmitted infections （STIs）/AIDS. Results： Of the 5 067 students who provided valid answer sheets, 50.05% were female and 49.95% were male, 14.86% were medical students, and 85.14% had non-medical backgrounds. A total of 38.4% of respondents had received reproductive health education previously. The majority of students supported school-based reproductive health education, and also acquired information about sex predominantly from books, schoolmates, and the Internet. Premarital sexual behavior was opposed by 17.7% of survey participants, and 37.5% could identify all the three types of STIs listed in the questionnaire. Although 83.7% knew how HIV is transmitted, only 55.7% knew when to use a condom and 57.8% knew that the use of condoms could reduce the risk of HIV infection. Conclusion： The reproductive health service is lagging behind current attitudes and demands of university students. Although students＇ attitudes towards sexual matters are liberal, their knowledge about reproductive health and STIs/AIDS is still limited. It is therefore necessary to provide effective and confidential reproductive health services to young people.

Reproductive Health Service Utilization and Social Determinants among Married Female Rural-to-urban Migrants in Two Metropolises,China

Reproductive health（RH） education and services of female migrants in China have become an important health issue.This research aimed to investigate the RH knowledge and utilization among married female migrants,and to explore the influencing factors from the perspectives of population and sociology.We conducted a cross-section survey in Shenzhen and Wuhan,China,using the purposive sampling method.A total of 1021 rural-to-urban married migrants were recruited,with 997 valid survey results obtained.A face-to-face structured questionnaire survey was used,with primary focus on knowledge of fertility,contraception,family planning policy and sexual transmitted diseases/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome（STD/AIDs）,and RH service utilization.The results showed that the RH service utilization（38.0%） was at a low level in married migrants and the accessibility of RH service was poor.Females who migrated to（OR=0.32） Wuhan obtained fewer RH consultations than those in Shenzhen.The workers with high school education received additional RH consultations and checkup services than those with other background education,apart from the white collar workers who received extra RH consultations and checkup services than the blue collar workers（P〈0.05）.We can draw a conclusion that the utilization of RH services in married female migrants remains at a low level in China.RH service utilization can be improved via the relevant health departments by enhancing the responsibility of maternal and health care in the community health service center.

Impact of community strategy package on uptake of reproductive tract infections health services among young street females in the municipality of Eldoret,Kenya

Background:Despite the intervention of free medical care services for street children by a dedicated clinic in Eldoret municipality,health care service of young street females(YSFs)is still deficient.The present study aimed to evaluate the impact of the community strategy package on the uptake of reproductive tract infections(RTI)health services among the target population.Materials and methods:A pre-test-post-test quasi-experimental with a qualitative and quantitative approach was applied among the YSFs aged 10-24 years.The study used structured questionnaires and key informant interviews to collect data from the respondents.Results:The study enrolled a total of 77 young street females in Eldoret municipality.A significantly higher proportion of respondents reportedly first sought treatment for RTI at a health facility after the implementation of the community strategy package(97.1%)when compared to the proportion of respondents who first sought treatment at a health facility in the pre-intervention phase(51.0%)(p<0.001).Early seeking of treatment improved significantly after the introduction of the intervention;72.0%and 94.1%of the respondents sought treatment early during the pre-intervention and post-intervention phase,respectively(p<0.011).Conclusion:The study recommends the adoption of the community strategy as an intervention to increase the uptake of RTIs health services and promotion of the reproductive health of young street females.

China’s Experience of Quality Care in Family Planning

Objective To evaluate and overview the experience of quality care of family planning of China.Methods The framework of quality care of China was summarized and analyzed, that was clients, technology and management triangle program system.Results The 8fundamental elements of quality care in China were presented： 1） policy environment of QoC, 2） comprehensive services, 3） choice of method, 4） IEC to policy-makers and providers, 5） technical competence, 6） interpersonal communications, 7） institutional guideline and regulation, 8） appropriate constella- tion of service.Conclusion FP sectors should prepare different constellations of service to meet their individual reproductive health need for different clients and develop institutional guide- line and regulation for FP service to follow up in practice. QoC should be a kind of standardized service process.