Reaching Teens with Adolescent Friendly Reproductive Health Services in Navoi, Uzbekistan

Title: REACHING TEENS WITH ADOLESCENT FRIENDLY REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH (AFRH) SERVICES IN NAVOI, UZBEKISTAN

Learning Objectives: By the end of the presentation, participants will understand the strategies and innovative methods Project HOPE utilized in Navoi, Uzbekistan to deliver adolescent friendly reproductive health services.

Background: An adolescent health component was added to a child survival project in Uzbekistan implemented by Project HOPE. Traditional values discourage open dialogue between adults and youth about sexual issues. Challenges to implementation included the lack of MOH polices regarding AFRH services and mistrust from youth towards health providers. Project HOPE implemented participatory trainings in high schools, vocational schools, clinics and the community on AFRH issues and created posters, booklets and videos for teens. The trainings sensitized all involved and improved knowledge among adolescents on reproductive health issues.

Evaluation Methods: The project implemented a quantitative survey on adolescents (defined in Uzbekistan as 16-18 years of age) in 2002 and in 2007.

Results: The percentage of teens that could name two ways of preventing HIV/AIDS increased from 44.2% at baseline to 90.7% at the final evaluation. The number of girls who knew when they are more likely to become pregnant increased from 13.2% at baseline to 59.6% at the final evaluation.

Conclusions: Health providers and community leaders can be effective conduits of information to adolescents, when trained accordingly. Including vocational schools in our program was seen as innovative and was highly commended by the Ministry of Education in Uzbekistan. This is an innovative approach that should be considered in adolescent sexual health programs here in the U.S.

Partners

Ministry of Education-Uzbekistan

Ministry of Health-Uzbekistan

Makhalla (community) leaders

Authors

Ruth Madison, MPH

Abdunabi Kuchimov, MD, MPH