Department of Reproductive Health

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Author: search.filters.author.GIRMAY TOLOSAHas files: Yes

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    Assessment of Reproductive Health Service Utilization & Associated Factors Among youths in Selected Schools, Tigray, Ethiopia
    (Mekelle University, 2025-06-25) GIRMAY TOLOSA
    Introduction: Youths (15–24 years old) worldwide are at risk, particularly women, for unsafe abortions, poor contraceptive services, high rates of unwanted pregnancies, and STIs. Students in secondary schools, especially in our country, are more vulnerable to several reproductive health problems. In Tigray, due to the war, there is no clear information on reproductive health service utilization in secondary schools. Additionally, there are many new cases of HIV/AIDS, early pregnancies, illegal abortions, and poor utilization of family planning. Therefore, this study aims to investigate how youths in Mekelle secondary schools utilize these services and identify factors that influence their use. Objective: To assess reproductive health service utilization and associated factors among youths attending secondry schools in Mekelle, Tigray, Ethiopia 2024. Methods: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 630 secondary school students in Mekelle town from December to March 2024/25. A structured interviewed questioner was used to collect the data. The samples were distributed proportionally to each school, and participants from each school were selected by systematic random sampling technique. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression was carried out to assess the association between dependent and independent variables. Level of significance was declared from p-value < 0.05 and adjusted Odds ratio with 95% confidence interval for the predictors of reproductive health service utilization. Result: Among the 630 students who participated in this study, 279 (39.4%) reported utilizing reproductive health services. Among these, most of the respondents (400 (63.5%)) were from governmental school. Most of the respondents (480 (76.2%)) were from urban areas. About 364 (57.8%) were females. the majority of the respondents (351(55.7%)) were within the age group of 15–19 years (Table 1). And the mean age of the participant were 18.96. And the predictors of reproductive health service utilization included the availability of an RHS facility in school (AOR = 2.203, 95% CI (1.507, 3.222)), the mother's educational status, prior awareness of Reproductive Health services, and knowledge of Reproductive Health services delivery facility. Conclusion and Recommendation: Reproductive health service utilization is the prevalent public health problem in our study area. Predictors which are availability of an RHS facility in school, mother's educational status, prior awareness of Reproductive Health services, and knowledge of Reproductive Health services delivery facility can be minimized by establishing reproductive health service centers within schools and stakeholders should work to scale up the service utilization in schools by considering the students’ background.