Youth Friendly Services: Definition and Characteristics

Youth Friendly services

Our world is home to 1.8 billion young people between the ages of 10 and 24. Therefore, the need to enable young people to have access to quality of life and good health, particularly sexual and reproductive health, is now a high priority. This is not only for the good of young people but also for broader development goals related to education, poverty alleviation and gender equality.

Youth Friendly Services

In recent years, the term youth-friendly services (YFS) came into common usage. According to UNFPA, it refers to services that are based on a comprehensive understanding of, and respect for, young people’s rights and the realities of their diverse sexual and reproductive lives. They are services which young people trust and feel are there for them. To be considered adolescent and youth friendly, health services should be accessible, acceptable, equitable, appropriate, and effective.

UNFPA partners with other UN agencies and with governments, civil society, young people and youth-serving organizations to actively promote and protect the sexual and reproductive health and human rights of adolescents. In addition to working to ensure health services and supportive programs are available to young people who are marginalized or hard to reach.

UNFPA also advocates for and supports the efficient delivery of a holistic, youth-friendly health-care package of services. These include:

Universal access to accurate sexual and reproductive health information;

A range of safe and affordable contraceptive methods;

Sensitive counselling;

Quality obstetric and antenatal care for all pregnant women and girls; and;

The prevention and management of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.

YFS Characteristics

The World Health Organization (WHO) defined the characteristics of adolescent and youth friendly health services as following:

Equitable

 all adolescents, not just certain groups, can obtain the health services they need.

Accessible

 adolescents are able to obtain the services that are provided.

Acceptable

 health services are provided in ways that meet the expectations of adolescent clients.

Appropriate

 the right health services that adolescents need are provided.

Effective

The right health services are provided in the right way and make a positive contribution to the health of adolescents.

Youth-friendly services should be accessible to all adolescents and young people regardless of their age, marital status, HIV status, sexual orientation, gender identity, occupation, social status, geographical location or ability to pay. These services must be confidential, non-judgmental and private.

What is being done to make health services Youth friendly?

There is growing recognition of the need to make it easier for adolescents to obtain the health services they need. Initiatives are being undertaken in many countries to help ensure that:

Health service providers are nonjudgmental and considerate in their dealings with adolescents; and they have the competencies needed to deliver the right health services in the right way.

Health facilities are equipped to provide adolescents with the health services they need; and are also appealing and ‘friendly’ to adolescents.

Adolescents are aware of where they can obtain the health services they need, and are both able and willing to do so when needed.

Community members are aware of the health-service needs of different groups of adolescents, and support their provision.