EXPLORING BARRIERS TO REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SERVICES UTILIZATION AMONG YOUTH, A QUALITATIVE STUDY IN DISTRICT RAWALPINDI, PUNJAB, PAKISTAN

Abstract

Background: Reproductive health services are vital to health and survival of young women. Pakistan has 35% of young population and according to PDHS 48% births takes place in health facility in which only15 % in public facility and 52% takes place at home. Youth faces barriers to utilization are related to accessibility, acceptability, how appropriate the services are and equity of reproductive health services.
Methods: Cross sectional Qualitative method was used. Quantitative part of study consisted of 130 females of 15 - 24 years of age and qualitative part comprised of five in depth interviews with HCP including Doctors and Nursing staff from five clinics providing reproductive health services in BBH, Rawalpindi, Punjab..
Results: The barriers that HCP considered were married women centered reproductive health services, no separate place for youth, timings were not convenient to youth, and cultural context was barrier to confidentiality. The factors youth consider to be hindering utilization of health services were behavior of health care provider, treatment of reception and support staff, cost of health services, knowledge regarding available services, confidentiality, interruptions during service delivery, lack of privacy as the p value is less than 0.05
Conclusion: For enhancing the utilization of reproductive health services in public facility by youth these barriers needs to be addressed at policy level and at health system level.