Findings of an evaluation of community and school-based reproductive health and HIV prevention programs in Kenya

  • Carolyne Njue Population Council
  • Helene A.C.M Voeten Department of Public Health
  • Eric Ohuma University of Oxford
  • C Looman Department of Public Health
  • Dik F Habbema
  • Ian Askew Population Council
Keywords: Premarital pregnancy, Premarital sex, Unmarried women, Young motherhood, Adolescents, Sexual behaviour

Abstract

Improving knowledge, attitudes, delaying onset of sexual activity and decreasing high-risk of sexual behaviour of young people are central components in strategic planning for RH programming. This paper presents findings of an evaluation of a public multi-sectoral adolescent reproductive health and HIV prevention program in rural Kenya. Study design was a community-randomized controlled trial. Cross-sectional baseline and endline surveys were conducted to evaluate the impact of the interventions with regard to knowledge, attitude and practices. Results in intervention sites A and B as compared to the control site showed large impact on knowledge of sexual and reproductive health issues, a less significant impact regarding attitude, and a small but significant impact on sexual behaviour. The community-based intervention had a significant impact on knowledge and sexual behaviour. Adding a school-based intervention component didn’t have a sustained improvement across board as anticipated. These findings underscore the need to strengthen capacities of public sector staff and enhance the robustness of strategy implementation.

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Author Biography

Dik F Habbema
Department of Public Health
Published
2016-03-02