The lives of adolescents and young adults in Ethiopia are increasingly intertwined with technology. Technology-enhanced models of behavior change, with opportunities for personalizing health interventions, have significant health-improving potential. There is considerable momentum behind advancing digital health technology to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of health care delivery, and rapid advances in technology allow adolescents and young adults to promote healthy behaviors and practices.
Young people’s challenges to accessing health care services include stigma, lack of information, cost, and provider bias. In response, the JSI-led USAID-funded Quality Healthcare Activity (QHA) has developed a digital space use guide — a collection of youth-led and -focused digital tools that enhance health literacy and facilitate service use among young people. The tools in this guide include access to virtual health services, chat/mobile counseling for HIV and other infectious diseases, sexual and gender-based violence, family planning and pregnancy health, and information on early childhood development, among others.
QHA also designed a poster for display in health facilities, high schools, universities, and other institutions that young people frequent (see figure 1). It lists health support apps, toll-free numbers, social media pages, and group networks. In the past six months, QHA has distributed the poster and guidance to 101 health facilities. In collaboration with AMREF Health Africa’s USAID Integrated Youth Activity, QHA has distributed the poster to 88 additional locations, including internally displaced persons sites, technical and vocational education and training colleges, youth hubs, health centers, and higher learning institutions.
This collaborative initiative has facilitated thousands of young people’s journey to vital health services.
Visit: https://www.jsi.com/project/quality-healthcare-activity/ for more information.
