Utilization of Youth Friendly Health Services and Associated Factors: A Community- Based Analytical Cross-Sectional Study Among Young People in The Tamale Metropolis

Background: Premarital sexual activities among the youth have been on the rise globally in recent years. However, the awareness level and patronage of youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health service centres are low. The purpose of this study was to evaluate young people's knowledge level , their attitude , access and the utilization of youth-friendly health services (YFHS) in the Tamale Metropolis, in the northern region of Ghana. Methods: About 420 young people aged between 14-and 24 years were conveniently recruited from the Tamale Metropolis in northern Ghana. A Likert scale was used to assess the knowledge level and attitude variables towards youth-friendly health services. To determine the correlation between the relevant characteristics and attitudes toward youth-friendly health services, the logit model and the Chi-square statistics were applied. Finally, Kendall's coefficient of concordance (W) was used to establish the most important component that influenced the access and utilization of youth-friendly health services in this sample. Results: The knowledge level about YFHS among respondents was low (69%). Furthermore, the majority (71%) of the respondents in this study had a negative attitude towards YFHS. Additionally, 63% of the respondents reported that they have never been to the YFHS centre before. The study also found that the most important hinder when determining whether or not to visit a YFHS was the cost element of the service (p=0.00) while religion was the least important factor affecting both access and utilization of youth-friendly health services with a p-value of (p=0.00). Conclusion: The majority of young people had low knowledge of YFHS, poor attitudes toward YFHS and most of them never visited any YFHS centres. The findings suggest the need for duty bearers in the Tamale Metropolis to scale-up education about the youth-friendly health service centres among the youth to bridge the knowledge gap. The cost of patronising YFHS centres could also be subsidised (if possible, made cost-free) to promote access and utilization of the centres among the youth in the Tamale Metropolis.