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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
medicine
Standardizing and scaling up quality adolescent friendly health services in Tanzania
BMC Public Health, Volume 13, No. 1, Article 579, Year 2013
Notification
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Description
Background: Adolescents in Tanzania require health services that respond to their sexual and reproductive health - and other - needs and are delivered in a friendly and nonjudgemental manner. Systematizing and expanding the reach of quality adolescent friendly health service provision is part of the Tanzanian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare's (MOHSW) multi-component strategy to promote and safeguard the health of adolescents. Objective. We set out to identify the progress made by the MOHSW in achieving the objective it had set in its National Adolescent Health and Development Strategy: 2002-2006, to systematize and extend the reach of Adolescent Friendly Health Services (AFHS) in the country. Methods. We reviewed plans and reports from the MOHSW and journal articles on AFHS. This was supplemented with several of the authors' experiences of working to make health services in Tanzania adolescent friendly. Results: The MOHSW identified four key problems with what was being done to make health services adolescent friendly in the country - firstly, it was not fully aware of the various efforts under way; secondly, there was no standardized definition of AFHS; thirdly, it had received reports that the quality of the AFHS being provided by some organizations was poor; and fourthly, only small numbers of adolescents were being reached by the efforts that were under way. The MOHSW responded to these problems by mapping existing services, developing a standardized definition of AFHS, charting out what needed to be done to improve their quality and expand their coverage, and integrating AFHS within wider policy and strategy documents and programmatic measurement instruments. It has also taken important preparatory steps to stimulate and support implementation. Conclusion: The MOHSW is aware that the focus of the effort must now shift from the national to the regional, council and local levels. The onus is on regional and council health management teams as well as health facility managers to take the steps needed to ensure that all adolescents in the country obtain the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services they need, delivered in a friendly and non-judgemental manner. But they cannot do this without substantial and ongoing support. © 2013 Chandra-Mouli et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
Authors & Co-Authors
Chandra-Mouli, Venkatraman C.
Switzerland, Geneva
Organisation Mondiale de la Santé
Mapella, Elizabeth
Tanzania, Dar es Salaam
Ministry of Health and Social Welfare
John, Theopista
Switzerland, Geneva
Organisation Mondiale de la Santé
Gibbs, Susannah E.
United States, Baltimore
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Hanna, Christina
United States, Washington, D.c.
Georgetown University School of Medicine
Kampatibe, Nagbandja
Unknown Affiliation
Bloem, Paul N.
Switzerland, Geneva
Organisation Mondiale de la Santé
Statistics
Citations: 41
Authors: 7
Affiliations: 4
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1186/1471-2458-13-579
e-ISSN:
14712458
Research Areas
Health System And Policy
Sexual And Reproductive Health
Study Locations
Tanzania