Feasibility of implementing an integrated hybrid model of service delivery for AGYW sexual and reproductive health in South Africa

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) experience significant health challenges including HIV infection, unwanted teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases in South Africa. Challenges exist with the uptake and utilization of sexual and reproductive health services for AGYW and there are a number of missed opportunities with the health system to provide prevention and care to AGYW. There is a renewed drive for service integration by policy makers to integrate SRH services with newly emerging HIV prevention and treatment services, in addition to scaling up access to prevention, care and treatment of STI's at a primary healthcare level. Current isolated service delivery models adds time and cost to clinic facilities and may be seen as a barrier to accessing care, as young people may have less access to cash, competing demands and less control over their time. There is limited data on effective delivery models for integrated interventions for young populations, therefore this study aims to determine the feasibility of implementing an integrated hybrid model of service delivery for adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) sexual and reproductive health (SRH) at selected facilities in South Africa. The integrated service delivery model will be a hybrid model comprising of both integration of contraceptive, STI/HIV transmission prevention and mental health screening with linkage to care services for HIV treatment, PrEP and psychosocial support. The linkages to appropriate care should be facilitated by health connectors. In order to determine whether such an intervention would be feasible to implement at selected facilities, this study will 4 elements, namely acceptability, demand, practicality and adaptation using the following objectives: (1) determine client, provider and key informant acceptability of the integrated hybrid model for SRH service delivery for AGYW, (2) assess demand and preference for integrated SRH services amongst AGYW, (3) determine the practicality of delivering integrated hybrid model for SRH service delivery for AGYW in a resource constrained setting, and (4) determine current level of integration and the adaptations needed to implement the integrated hybrid model for SRH service delivery for AGYW.