Background
Adolescents in Kenya make up 24% of the population and more than 50% of the youth have had sexual intercourse before the age of 18. Teenage pregnancy is at 20%, with a contraceptive prevalence rate of 49% both nationally and in Machakos County. Every year, 20,000 girls seek care for abortion-related complications and the HIV prevalence is high among this group compared to the general population. Adolescents account for 29% of new HIV infections and 17% of all AIDS-related deaths

About the project
This project was created to improve access to youth friendly services at the Kenyatta National Hospital and Machakos County Referral Hospital. This was done by increasing the awareness of the youth friendly services available and strengthening the referral system between healthcare workers and youth centers at the two hospitals. The project team also worked on increasing and promoting linkages between the community and the youth centre at Machakos County Referral Hospital.

Results
So far, the Kenyatta National Hospital has made adolescents a prioritised group who are flagged at contact points within the hospital. They have also sensitized staff on youth issues at the monthly head of departments’ meetings.  Machakos County Referral Hospital has given health talks to 100 youths, 50 community health volunteers, 180 health workers, 70 partners and stakeholders and 20 health policy makers. In addition to this, referrals and linkages to the youth centre have increased by 69% in the project’s first six months. Machakos County Referral Hospital has done an assessment to identify challenges in accessing services at the youth center. Discussions are currently being held on how to address the issues identified.