Youth Reproductive Health Problems, Service Preference and Associated Factors among Female Secondary School Students in Lay Gayint District of Amhara Region, Ethiopia, 2019

More than one million youth population is reported to die annually from preventable causes of death. Young people, particularly females are highly affected by an unwanted pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), and other reproductive ill health due to lack of awareness about risky sexual behaviors. This study aimed to assess youth reproductive health problems, service preference, and associated factors among female secondary school students in the Lay Gayint district of Amhara Region, Ethiopia.

Institution-based cross-sectional study design was employed for 374 female secondary school students from March 10-25, 2019 who were selected using a simple random sampling technique. Descriptive statistics using frequency and other statistical summary measures were performed to describe the characteristics of youths, while binary and multivariable analyses were used to identify factors associated with youth reproductive health problems. An adjusted odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval was used to measure the association and statistical significance was taken at p-value ≤ 0.05.

The magnitude of youth reproductive health problems was 28.3% (95%, CI (24.2%, 32.6%)). The risk of developing reproductive health problems was found to be higher among participants less than 20 years of age (AOR=3.25, 95% CI (1.38, 7.65)), those who ashamed to discuss sexual issues (AOR=8.42, 95% CI (3.80, 18.67)), those who had multiple sexual partners (AOR=11.05, 95% CI (4.29, 28.50)), and those who had peer influence (AOR=23.00, 95% CI (8.02, 65.98)) compared with counterparts. While study participants who reported to attend a class every day (AOR=0.30, 95% CI (0.12, 0.74)) and those who believe in the convenience of youth services (AOR=0.04, 95%, CI (0.02, 0.12)) were less likely to develop a reproductive health problem.

The magnitude of youth reproductive health problems was found to be high. Being young, failing to discuss sexual issues, having multiple sexual partners, and peer influence were found to be the contributing factors for youth reproductive health problems. Therefore, emphasis should be given on the prevention of youth reproductive health problems through avoidance of risk factors and the establishment of convenient youth-friendly services.