Youth Friendly Services

The service providers should be non-judgemental and considerate in their dealings with adolescents and youth and deliver the services in the right way. The service delivery point should provide and enable adolescents and youth to obtain the health services they need. 

Youth friendly sexual and reproductive health services are services or clinics that deliver a comprehensive range of sexual and reproductive health services in ways that are responsive to the specific needs, vulnerabilities and desires of young people. These youth friendly services succeed in attracting and retaining young clients for continuing care and this can only be done when there is understanding and respect for young people’s sexual and reproductive rights.  

Youth friendly services should be accessible to all adolescents and young people regardless of your age, marital status, HIV status, sexual orientation, gender identity, occupation, social status, geographical location or ability to pay. These services must be confidential, non-judgmental and private. 

Youth friendly services recognise the importance of the people and community groups that structure your choices and your life. Thus, services should involve and gain the support of those important in your life, such as partners, parents, guardians, carers, faith organisations, community leaders and schools. At the same time, service providers must prioritise your rights, including rights to privacy and confidentiality, and ensure that they do not compromise these rights by involving parents, guardians or others. 

Adolescent and youth-friendly health services (AYFHS) (also called youth-friendly services, YFS) are designed to address the barriers faced by youth in accessing high-quality sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services.

•Structural barriers, such as laws and policies requiring parental or partner consent, distance from facilities, costs of services and/or transportation, long wait times for services, inconvenient hours, lack of necessary commodities at health facilities, and lack of privacy and confidentiality.

•Sociocultural barriers, such as restrictive norms and stigma around adolescent and youth sexuality; inequitable or harmful gender norms; and discrimination and judgment by communities, families, partners, and providers. 

•Individual barriers, such as incomplete or incorrect knowledge of SRH, including myths and misconceptions around contraception; limited self-efficacy and individual agency; constrained ability to navigate internalized social and gender norms; and lack of access to information about what SRH services are available and where to seek services. 

What Are the Benefits?

1.) Facilitates youth access to and satisfaction with services

2.) Institutionalizes use of AYFHS standards in routine MOH quality improvement/assurance supervisory visits

3.) Delivers higher-quality SRH services to youth

4.) Empowers health providers to be advocates for youth

5.) Encourages future health-seeking behavior among youth. 

Characteristics of Youth-Friendly Programming

 Youth feedback is sought and incorporated continuously.

 Affordable fees

 Boys and young men welcomed and served

 Wide range of services available including pregnancy and birth control counseling, HIV and other STI testing and treatment.

 Use of numbers instead of names in the waiting room   

 System to "red‐flag" youth with particular confidentiality concerns.

 Flexible hours; offering lunch, evening, and weekend appointments.

 Well‐established mechanism to allow for slightly longer visits with adolescents.

 Use of first names by all clinic staff to make the environment more informal and welcoming.

 Walk‐in clients welcomed and appointments arranged rapidly.

 Participation in the federal 3408 drug discount purchasing program.

 Well‐established linkages and referrals to mental health, education, employment and social services.

 System in place to provide continuous support to staff who work with young clients so that they remain comfortable and confident addressing their needs and concerns.

 Procedures in place for gathering staff opinions on the quality of adolescent services provided.

 Well established protocol to ensure that youth receive preventive counseling as recommend by the American Medical Association’s Guidelines for Adolescent Preventive Services (GAPS).

 Mechanism in place to make referral appointments for youth and ensure they know exactly where and when to go.

 Staff who can communicate with youth in their own language. Enforcement of translation service protocols.

 Well established protocol so adolescents are asked for the most appropriate contact information rather than their home contact details.

 System in place to keep providers up to date on contraceptive technology and provide

opportunities for refresher training to update their skills and knowledge.

 Well established protocols to ensure health providers remember to ask about risk‐taking

behavior, including unprotected sex, substance use, and violence, as well as about issues related to mental health. 

Characteristics of Youth-Friendly Providers

 Familiarity with adolescent physiology and development.

 Knowledge of appropriate medical options for adolescents according to age and maturity.

 Trained on counseling.

 Trained on working with and serving youth

 Skills to communicate fluently in the youth language.

 Effective interpersonal skills.

 Ability to relate to youth in a respectful manner.

 Skills to honor privacy and confidentiality of youth.

 Knowledge of mandatory reporting requirements.

 Skills to engage in conversations about body image and development, sex, relationships, contraceptive method options, and gender norms.

 Skills to bring myths to the surface, to discuss and dispel them.

 Skills to take and/or update sexual health assessment at every visit.

 Ability to explain to adolescents the reason for a particular test and what is involved.

 Knowledge about parental consent regulations.

 Skills to know how to emphasize the protections of confidentiality.

 Clear understanding of the state's law on informed consent and confidentiality in regards to a) contraceptive services; b) HIV and other STI testing and treatment; d) substance abuse treatment; and  e) mental health care.

 Everyday practice of staff to provide adolescents a slip of paper with their correctly spelled diagnosis and medications, if applicable.

 Competent in providing referral advice.

 Understanding and access to the latest information/publications relating to adolescents' sexual and reproductive health.

 Access to medical guidelines and protocols relating to service delivery for adolescents.