Perceived barriers to accessing sexual and reproductive health services among educated young women in Egypt | ||
| Evidence Based Women's Health Journal | ||
| Article 9, Volume 10, Issue 4, November 2020, Pages 324-332 PDF (1.19 M) | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/ebwhj.2020.42332.1106 | ||
| Authors | ||
| Mo’men M. Mohammed1; Saad Elgelany* 2; Khaled Goma1; Heba Hassan1 | ||
| 1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Minia University, Egypt | ||
| 2Minia Maternity & Children University hospital Obstetrics & Gynecology department, faculty of medicine, Minia University, Egypt. | ||
| Abstract | ||
| Background: Youth have higher risk of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) problems, and consequently have a higher need for SRH counselling. In Egypt, reproductive health (RH) awareness is generally poor especially among young women attending high institutions that requires further attentions and research to explore the different barriers to access the RH services. Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the barriers to access SRH services among young educated Egyptians. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional, community-based survey was conducted in Minia Governorate, Egypt through a self-funded research project during the period from January 2019 till September 2019. The invited sample were 750 female university students. Approval by ethical committee of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Minia University Hospital was obtained. Descriptive and a cross-tabular descriptive statistical analysis of frequencies and percentages were performed. Comparing means with a significance level of 0.05 was performed to investigate the association between the different variables. Results: A total of 48.1% of participants reported an unmet need of sexual and reproductive health counselling. Ten different barriers were described by the participants. The first four barriers in the order of importance were health service provider’s attitudes (88.5%), misinformation in the communities (86.5%), cultural norms (86.5%) and health system barriers (73.1%) while the logistics and the distance was rated on the bottom. Conclusion: It is imperative to ensure efficient and adequate SRH counselling among the vulnerable groups. Improving the access to SRH can be achieved by correction of the community misconceptions with adequate training of the health service providers. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Awareness; barriers; educated young Egyptians; sexual and reproductive health problems | ||
|
Statistics Article View: 467 PDF Download: 806 |
||
