An mhealth intervention for sexual reproductive health information and services by young people in Kenya

Abstract

Accessibility to Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) information and services among young people has been poor over the years. Lack of quality SRH information, services, and tools among young people has resulted in adverse effects such as early unplanned pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, HIV/AIDS, and poor sanitation. This research was aimed at identifying the sources of SRH information available, the factors that influence SRH accessibility by the young people and developing a mobile-based solution that would enable access to SRH information and services conveniently. Considering that mobile penetration in Kenya stood at 119.7% as at 2020, mHealth is an effective mode of providing SRH information and services which grants confidentiality and accessibility to young people (CA, 2020). This research sought to demonstrate how a mobile-based prototype can be used as a key intervention to enable young people to access SRH information and services conveniently. A review was conducted among 157 participants. Results from the analysis revealed that the common sources of SRH information and services were internet (30.6%), media (15.9%), home (6.2%) and school (15.1%). 86.5% of the respondents thought that an mHealth intervention would improve accessibility to SRH information and services. This study can be exercised with more participants in diverse parts of the country to understand the full potential of mHealth in bearing SRH outcomes. COVID-19 limited the researcher to have better engagement with study participants, which would have surfaced more insights. This study was aimed at providing a solution towards improving lives and mitigating the short and long-term consequences of poor access to SRH services and information for young people. This study has presented a case for mHealth as an innovation to facilitate better SRH information and services access for young people. A feasible mHealth solution incorporating a wearable, mobile and web technologies was developed which was then tested by sampled young people and healthcare professionals to assess its usability. The usability scoring of 75.3% demonstrated that mHealth can be used to improve access to SRH information and services by the young people.