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The purpose of this paper is to explain the sexual and reproductive health needs, barriers to accessing services as well as the expectations of the youth who do not use the services provided by the Youth Counseling and Health Service Centres in Ankara Province, Turkey.

The study is based on the results of 12 focus group discussions conducted with young people in the 8th (14‐ to 15‐year‐old) and 12th (aged 17‐ to 18‐year‐old) grades who are not service users.

The findings suggest that gender, socio‐economic level of the family, religion, the condition of the facilities and the visibility of the centres are factors affecting service usage.

The paper analyses factors that affect the use of services, such as male vs female, primary school vs high school, centre vs periphery, and shows how religion, region, gender, education and socio‐economic dimensions have to be taken into account in understanding the sensitivity of sexuality‐related issues among adolescents.

The purpose of this paper is to explore perceived barriers to accessing and using adolescent health services in Ghana.

The study was a qualitative study adopting a case study design. In total, 24 adolescents were recruited from four adolescent health facilities in Tema, a suburb of Ghana, using convenient sampling. In-depth interviews with respondents were conducted coupled with the taking of field notes and personal observations. Data collection took place between January and May 2017. Data were transcribed, managed and coded for themes. Thematic analysis was guided by Braun and Clarke’s (2006) Framework.

The findings of this study revealed that majority of the respondents were females (54 percent) older adolescents (above 15 years (60 percent), students (79 percent)), had junior high school education and stayed with their biological parent(s) (70 percent). Adolescents in this study perceived four main barriers that restrict their access to or use of adolescent health services. The barriers were found at the facility level, provider level, community level and personal level.

The findings of this study provide evidence-based information for planning adolescent health care interventions that would improve adolescents’ access to and use of health services in Ghana.

Adolescents are more exposed to risky health behaviors. However, many adolescents do not seek health care due to the poor quality of care. The purpose of this paper is to assess health care quality in adolescent clinics in Tema, a suburb of Ghana.

Cross-sectional survey design was adopted to collect data from 365 adolescent respondents. Data were analyzed with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Science (version 20) using descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression.

The results demonstrate that adolescents perceived quality of care in adolescent clinics to be good. The significant predictors of adolescents’ overall perceptions of quality of care were provider competencies (β=0.311, p<0.01), adolescent’s health literacy (β=0.359, p<0.01), appropriate package of services (β=0.093, p<0.05), and equity and non-discrimination (β=0.162, p<0.01).

The study was conducted in an urban setting. Therefore, the generalization of findings must be done with caution.

Adolescent health care quality in Ghana is below expectation. However, it has received little attention from researchers. This study provides empirical evidence for adolescent health care quality improvement in developing countries like Ghana.

Developing youth-friendly, flexible primary care is important because young people have specific health needs but often feel nervous and uneasy when seeking appropriate help. The Well Centre in South London is an innovative adolescent health one-stop-shop, jointly designed and developed by Redthread (a youth work charity) and the Herne Hill Group Practice (general practitioners). The purpose of this paper is to summarise the experiences of implementing the model and provides a description of a sample of clients.

Drawing on routine data from the Well Centre’s medical and youth work data systems, a service description and audit of patients using the centre during the three years from October 2011 to December 2014 was provided, with a particular focus on the 368 new patients aged 13-20 years attending between January and December 2014.

Results demonstrated the Well Centre’s success in drawing in patients from deprived backgrounds who were less likely to be engaged with other health services, and who reflected a high level of mental health problems. The Well Centre model tested the benefit of an integrated approach in recognising and meeting the needs of young people. The real strength of the model lay in the good communications with schools and the voluntary sector in the area.

The Well Centre is a unique intervention with potentially wide ramifications for how primary health care is delivered to young people in inner city areas, and this paper represents the first published information about its working methods and clientele.

This chapter examines how young people relate to and engage with their city. Framed by a sociological approach to childhood, we assert that young people are competent social actors, living a complex relationship with their urban environment, while facing paternalism. The study draws on participatory activities including focus group discussions, neighbourhood walks, city mapping and song and video creation with 54 youth aged 9–17 years from six areas of Montréal (Canada). Our findings point to young people’s mixed experiences and views of Montréal. On the one hand, the city is experienced as unwelcoming, excluding, homogenising and stressful. Among recreational facilities, mental health services and venues to hang out, there is little that meets youth’s specific needs and aspirations. They also pointed out the inequalities across neighbourhoods, pressures to fit into uniformising models, the limitations of gender roles and a lack of support from adults. On the other hand, youth are responding to and shaping their environment by seeking belonging in the city. They question the inequalities and homogenising forces, seek meaning in places and community and value relationships and diversity. We contend that moving towards child–youth friendly cities calls for better listening to youth to enhance the type of opportunities that reflect their needs and aspirations, while providing for inclusive cities that feature alternative forms of citizenship, accessibility to local places, diversity and community.

This chapter discusses various aspects of family planning initiatives on a global scale, with a specific focus on their influence in Asian contexts, including Bangladesh. This chapter examines the diverse range of family planning programs and policies implemented worldwide, in Asia and Bangladesh considering cultural factors that significantly shape family planning decisions. By highlighting the unique approaches and challenges faced in different regions, it provides valuable insights into the evolving landscape of family planning efforts and their impact on population dynamics.

Adolescence is a time when a young person develops his or her identity, acquires greater autonomy and independence, experiments and takes risks and grows mentally and physically. To successfully navigate these changes, an accessible and health system when needed is essential.

We assessed the structure and content of national primary care services against these standards in the field of adolescent health services. The main criteria identified by adolescents as important for primary care are as follows: accessibility, staff attitude, communication in all its forms, staff competency and skills, confidential and continuous care, age appropriate environment, involvement in health care, equity and respect and a strong link with the community.

We found that although half of the Models of Child Health Appraised countries have adopted adolescent-specific policies or guidelines, many countries do not meet the current standards of quality health care for adolescents. For example, the ability to provide emergency mental health care or respond to life-threatening behaviour is limited. Many countries provide good access to contraception, but specialised care for a pregnant adolescent may be hard to find.

Access needs to be improved for vulnerable adolescents; greater advocacy should be given to adolescent health and the promotion of good health habits. Adolescent health services should be well publicised, and adolescents need to feel empowered to access them.

The purpose of this article is to produce a taxonomy of organizational models of school health services (SHS) in the WHO European Region, and to reflect upon the potential of each model to be effective, equitable, responsive and efficient.

The authors used data from the WHO survey to identify organizational models. To produce a taxonomy of organizational models, three features of SHS organization were analyzed – the presence of health personnel specifically dedicated to school health services provision (school nurse and/or school doctor); the statutory involvement of other health professions in SHS provision; and the proximity of service provision to pupils (school-based or not school-based).

There are five organizational models of school health services in the Member States of the WHO European Region: dedicated school-based, dedicated community-based, integrated with primary care, mixed school-based, and mixed community-based. Preliminary reflections show that school based models are more likely to produce better outcomes in terms of effectiveness, equity, responsiveness, and efficiency.

The WHO European Region has 53 Member States; the data are therefore incomplete and conclusions are limited to the 37 respondent countries.

Knowledge on performance of various models of service provision may inform decision-makers in the process of reforms.

This is the first attempt to produce a taxonomy of organizational models of school health services based on data from 37 countries, and to investigate the potential of each model to achieve desirable health system objectives.

Around one in five girls in Kenya, aged 15 to 19 years old are either pregnant or have given birth. Of 47 counties, adolescent pregnancy is highest in Narok, where about 40% of girls aged 15 to 19 years old have begun childbearing. This study aims to explore drivers to sexual activity, access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services and barriers to contraceptive use among adolescents in Narok County, Kenya to inform the design of SRH interventions and safeguard young people’s rights to sexual health.

A cross-sectional mixed methods study was conducted in December 2019. Quantitative data were collected through structured questionnaires among girls aged 15 to 19 years old who were either pregnant or had given birth and those who had not and boys aged 15 to 19 years old. Qualitative data were collected through focus group discussions with adolescent girls and boys and through structured key informant interviews with parents, community leaders and health workers.

The mean age at first sexual intercourse for both genders was 15 years. While the majority of girls and boys knew where to access SRH services, few used contraception during their last sexual activity. There was no significant difference in the condom or other contraceptive methods use between girls who had begun child bearing and those who had not (p = 0.549 and p = 0.563, respectively). Key drivers for sexual activity among young people were poverty and peer pressure. Cultural practices such as female genital mutilation and early marriage contributed to early sex. Community attitudes toward contraception discouraged young people from taking up contraceptives.

This mixed methods study explores the drivers of adolescent pregnancy in Narok, Kenya, the county with the highest rates of adolescent pregnancy; twice the national pregnancy rates. Understanding the drivers of pregnancy and the underlying human rights violations will help policymakers and health leaders to design interventions which will improve outcomes.