Abstract:
The reproductive health challenges Kenyan youth face are high rates of teenage pregnancy, high and rising rates of HIV infection, early marriage for young girls, malnutrition and harmful traditional practices such as female genital cutting. Policy makers are acknowledging the link between better reproductive health services and other aspects of healthy youth development that include livelihoods, mental health and road safety. In recent times, the government has established youth friendly information and counselling centres in hospitals to offer reproductive health services to the youth in a manner that they perceive as more welcoming, comfortable and responsive. However, there is need to assess the contribution of these services on youth sexual behaviour change. The purpose of this study was to investigate the contribution of youth friendly health information and counselling services on youth's sexual behaviour change. The study was carried out in the Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital Youth Centre. Descriptive survey design was used. A population of 600 youths was involved, drawn from the youths who visited the centre for reproductive health services. A sample of 234 youths was selected through stratified and convenience sampling methods. Purposive sampling was used to select three service providers and a youth group of 6 members. Data was collected by use of questionnaires and focus group discussions, and then analyzed using descriptive statistics. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17.0 was used to aid in data analysis. An analysis of the results indicated that Rift Valley General Hospital youth centre has the
d essential service package to provide youth friendly information and counselling services to the youth. The study found out that 83% of the youth who had accessed and utilised the youth friendly services reported positive sexual behaviour change. The researcher recommended that quality and sustainable youth friendly reproductive health information and counselling services be provided to empower the youth to develop, adopt, and sustain healthy attitudes reduce risky sexual behaviour.
