Abstract:
Background: There is dearth of information on the sexual and reproductive health of youths in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Demographic and Health Surveys conducted over the years focused only on ma ternal and child health issues. This study was conducted to ascertain the barriers for young people seeking access to Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) services.
Methods: A community-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted among 519 youths, aged 15 to 24 years, using a questionnaire adapted from the Demographic and Health Survey II in the DRC. The questionnaire was up loaded on the software KoBo Collect for data collection. Data collected were transferred, processed and analyzed using Excel 2007 and IBM SPSS 25.0. Descriptive analysis was performed with frequencies, means, standard deviation and proportions while association between variables were determined using chi–square (χ2) tests, with statistical significance set at p < 0.05. Also, binary logistic regression (95%: CI) was used to determine significant predictor variables of knowledge and awareness of SRH among the youths of DRC.
Results : The average age of the study participants was 19.38±2.49 years, with those aged 18-20 years being the largest group (39.11%). Only 317 participants (61.1%) reported having ever heard about the term SRH. Majority of the participants interviewed had never participated in any health promotion activity related to SRH issues in their community. A total of 175 participants (35%) reported that SRH services were not geographically accessible to them. The vast majority (82%) indicated they would utilize SRH services if they were located nearby. Addi tionally, only 155 participants (29.9%) had ever visited a health facility for SRH services. Respondents who were older (> 20 years), male, had at least secondary education, were currently students or were of the Christian faith were more likely to be aware of SRH services (p<0.05).
Limitations: The study's limitations include its cross-sectional design restricting causal inferences, potential bias from self-selected participants, reliance on self-reported data, and limited regional generalizability. Language, and literacy challenges may have also affected results. These issues highlight the need for further research to better understand barriers to SRH access among youth in the DRC.
Conclusions: There is a poor level of access to SRH services among the youth in DRC, which is linked to poor awareness, low participation in health promotion activities and a pessimistic view of care affordability. However, age, gender, education level, and occupation of the youths play a role in their level of awareness of SRH services. Therefore, it is advisable for the DRC to work on improving awareness of young people towards SRH services and integrating these services into other routine services. Furthermore, the concept of young people’s participation in health promotion activities is crucial and must be put into practical action by associating young people as key stakeholders in any process of making policies since this is about their SRH.
