The County Government of Nakuru in collaboration with Youth for Sustainable World (YSW) is establishing youth friendly clinics and centres at its health care facilities to address the needs of its youthful population.
County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for health services Ms Roselyn Mungai said the collaboration was aimed at enhancing service delivery points to improve the youth health experience adding that the initiative underscores Governor Susan Kihika’s commitment to responsive, inclusive, and accessible healthcare for the young people.
The CECM said the County was mobilizing local, bilateral and multilateral partnerships and resources to help in addressing youth health challenges, including teenage pregnancies, Female Genital Mutilation, drug abuse, Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and new HIV infections.
Ms Mungai said the County was also collaborating with the national government and the society in committing to end new HIV infections, adolescent pregnancies and SGBV.
“The youth friendly health initiative is aimed at addressing the needs of adolescents and aligning our County with the national and international declarations and conventions of catering to specific populations”, added the CECM.
Ms Mungai explained that facilities that are being designed specifically to cater for the needs of adolescents and young people, will be offering health services in a non-judgmental and comfortable environment to attract the needy youths.
The Youth Friendly Centers, disclosed the CECM, were being staffed with trained healthcare providers who are knowledgeable about youth health concerns to ensure the facilities make healthcare easily accessible to young people by creating a welcoming atmosphere where they feel comfortable to discuss sensitive topics.
She assured that the healthcare workers had been trained well to provide adolescent-friendly services, including reproductive health information, family planning options, HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, mental health support, and screening for common adolescent health issues.
Ms Mungai said strict confidentiality practices were crucial at the facilities to ensure young people feel safe sharing personal information with healthcare providers adding that outreach programs and community engagement were important to educate young people about available services to encourage them to seek care.
Ms Mungai cited Gilgil Sub-County Hospital where she said the County government was revitalizing its Youth-Friendly Services (YFS) by providing integrated healthcare services to youth aged between 18 to 24 years.
She added that a nurse trained on youth health concerns had been deployed at the health facility to work with other health workers to enhance the youth friendly health services adding that the Njoro sub-county health facility was the best Youth-Friendly health Services model in the County.
By Esther Mwangi
