FRONTIERS PROJECT
Global Agenda: Improving the Reproductive Health of Youth in Kenya

Between 1999 and 2003, FRONTIERS and the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), with funding from USAID, implemented an operations research project in Kenya to test an innovative approach to providing reproductive health information and services to adolescents.

The intervention was conducted through three mediums: schools, communities, and health facilities. The Ministry of Education implemented a life-skills curriculum in schools, taught by guidance and counseling teachers, and introduced school-based peer educators supervised by these teachers. The community-based intervention was implemented by the Department of Social Services through its community development assistants (CDAs), who were trained to promote adolescent reproductive health issues in the community in collaboration with civil and religious leaders, and through out-of-school peer educators supervised by the CDAs. The Ministry of Health received technical assistance to train staff in clinics to become more "youth friendly"; to recruit, train, and supervise facility-based youth peer educators; and to set aside a dedicated space where youth could meet with the peer educators.

The evaluation results showed significant improvements in community awareness and knowledge about reproductive health issues, increased discussions on reproductive health, reinforcement of positive attitudes toward abstinence, and the use of protection by sexually active adolescents and couples. Among youth participating in the school-based activities, there has been some delay in the start of sexual activity and a reduction in the number of pregnancies.

This project has been scaled up at the national level (see "Institutionalizing a Successful Adolescent Reproductive Health and HIV Intervention Program: Expanding the Kenya Adolescent Reproductive Health Program Experience in Kenya"). This operations research study demonstrates that providing technical assistance to support existing public-sector structures and procedures to explicitly address adolescent reproductive health issues in a conservative environment is feasible, effective, and sustainable.

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Location

Kenya, Western Province

Duration

October 1999–July 2003

Population Council researchers

Ian Askew, Susan Adamchak, Jane Chege, Carolyn Njue

Non-Council collaborators

Samson Radeny (PATH)

Kenya Ministry of Health

Kenya Ministry of Education, Science and Technology

Kenya Ministry of Gender, Sport, Culture, and Social Services

Donor

US Agency for International Development

Publications/Resources

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Related Project

• Institutionalizing a Successful Adolescent Reproductive Health and HIV Intervention Program: Expanding the Kenya Adolescent Reproductive Health Program Experience in Kenya

See Also

• Kenya

• Youth 

• Reproductive Health

• FRONTIERS Youth

• FRONTIERS Kenya

• FRONTIERS Scaling Up

• FRONTIERS Utilization of Research Findings

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