Conference abstract

Factors associated with accessibility to teenage friendly sexual and reproductive health services in Lira District, Uganda: a case control study

Pan African Medical Journal - Conference Proceedings. 2017:3(9).13 Oct 2017.
doi: 10.11604/pamj-cp.2017.3.9.107
Archived on: 13 Oct 2017
Contact the corresponding author
Keywords: Case, control, teenage friendly sexual and reproductive health service
Oral presentation

Factors associated with accessibility to teenage friendly sexual and reproductive health services in Lira District, Uganda: a case control study

Tugume Abdulaziz1,&, Lynn Atuyambe1, Doreen Tuhebwe1, Christine Muhumuza1

1Makerere University School of Public Health, Kampala, Uganda

&Corresponding author
Tugume Abdulaziz, Makerere University School of Public Health, Kampala, Uganda

Abstract

Introduction: in Uganda, Lira is one of the districts reported with high rates of teenage pregnancy estimated at 52%. The government and health partners are providing either free or subsidized sexual and reproductive health services (SRHS) including pregnancy preventive services. However, teenage pregnancy in Lira District is still high. This study aimed at determining factors associated with accessibility to adolescent friendly SRHS in Lira District.

Methods: a community based unmatched case control study involving 166 cases and 332 controls was conducted between July and August 2016. Girls aged 13-19 years old formed the study population, pregnant girls formed cases and non-pregnant girls formed controls. Study subjects were sampled from Erute North and Lira Municipality. Data was collected using a structured interviewer administered questionnaire, stata v.13 was used for data analysis. Descriptive and multivariate analysis using logistic regression were conducted.

Results: it was found that 2% (5/321) of girls reported to have had sexual intercourse by age 12. The mean age at first sexual encounter was 15.58 years (SD = 1.23). Only 63% (316/498) of girls had ever received education on the use of contraceptives. Amongst teenagers who ever had sexual intercourse, 44.16% (140/317) had sex with partners older than them, 35.96% (114/317) with friends of same age groups. Half of the cases (84/166) were not married, and 95% (158/166) had dropped out of school. Teenage girls preferred seeking SRHS from private clinics to government facilities 19.39% (96/495) 16.16 %( 80/495) respectively. More than half of the girls, 52% (257/498) had received information about using condoms, 49% (243/498) knew at least one pregnancy prevention method. Girls who ever received counselling about SRHS had higher odds of being cases AOR = 2.57 (1.52-4.30). Surprisingly, teenage girls that reported to have ever used any pregnancy prevention service had higher odds of pregnancy AOR = 3.88 (2.52-5.98).

Conclusion: teenage girls’ access to reliable SRHS is still low. Services available may neither be accurate nor friendly to teenage girls hence ineffective. We recommend that healthcare providers in private and government facilities be equipped with adequate skills in order to enable them provide accurate and friendly SRHS to teenagers.