Organizational Responses and Sexual And Reproductive Health Needs of Street Children in Addis Ababa
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Date
2011-05
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Addis Abeba University
Abstract
Background - The lives of millions of street children worldwide are at risk because they do not
have the information, skills, health services and support they need to go through sexual
development during adolescence. It was time to put in place viable programmes or strategies that
will ensure the sexual health problems street children are urgently addressed. But rigorous
assessment has not been undertaken so far to identify whether special and street children-friendly
sexual and reproductive health and HIV/ AIDS prevention and treatment services were existing in
Addis Ababa. This study is therefore undertaken to systematically investigate the fit between
street children’s sexual and reproductive health needs and the existing programmatic responses.
Objective - This paper tried to explore to what extent the present health interventions address
sexual and reproductive health needs of street children in Addis Ababa.
Method-Across-sectional study was conducted among 422 street children and four service
providers using a structured questionnaire, focus group discussions and through individual
interview. Study participants were selected using time location sampling (TLS) technique which
includes different areas at different time in five sub cities of Addis Ababa.
Results -At the time of the survey, most participants (72.5%) were ever had sexual intercourse
(66.2% of boys, and 90.4% of girls) and the mean age at their first sexual intercourse were 15.4
years for males and 14.3 years for females. Comparing males and females, 84.3% of males and
85.7% of females tended to have multiple sexual partners. Concerned to Substance use, more than
two third (67.3%) of the participants were used at least one type of substance. A history of drug
use (OR = 2.5; 95% CI = 1.42–4.56), and being on the street for the first 1-3 years (OR = 5.9;
95% CI=1.41- 25.22) increased the likelihood of displaying sexual activity. A large proportion
(64.9%) of the street children did not attend any kind of sexual and reproductive health education
programs. Regarding Perceived and actual barriers, limited access to local sexual and
reproductive health services, 26.5% of participants stated lack of information on available
services as the biggest barrier. From the individual interview with coordinator of special clinics
for street children, it was indicated that financial and networking problems were affecting the
service delivery for children by different actors.
Conclusion- Street children who are special high risk group, have not been targeted and hence
continue to remain vulnerable and lacking in sexual and reproductive health services that cater to
their needs and sexual health services are poorly advertised and delivered to them.
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Keywords
Organizational Responses and Sexual