Despite global efforts to enhance access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, young people still face significant unmet SRH needs compared to older clients. Over the past two decades, SRH services have made strides in becoming more youth-friendly, yet young people continue to encounter critical barriers, indicating a need for further improvements in both service quality and access.

Through consultations with youth leaders and organizations working with young people, M4M identified three major obstacles unique to youth needs: poor service privacy, inadequate confidentiality, and provider bias. These barriers emerged as key factors that hinder youth from receiving high-quality SRH services. A deeper exploration of these issues led to the publication of a review that confirmed these findings and highlighted the ongoing challenges. 

Currently, there is no tool for quickly assessing the combined aspects of privacy, confidentiality, and provider bias in SRH services for young people. Existing methods are often lengthy and difficult to implement. The need for a simple, rapid assessment tool is clear, as it will provide crucial insights to inform continuous quality improvement initiatives and guide interventions aimed at reducing these barriers for youth.

The creation of this tool is crucial for improving sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services for young people. First, it helps us identify the aspects of SRH care that matter most to them. Second, the tool allows us to easily collect data on those key areas. With this data, we can make informed changes to improve the accessibility, effectiveness, and youth-friendliness of SRH services. Ultimately, this leads to increased use of these services by young people, improving their overall health outcomes.

The MY SRH Initiative is dedicated to addressing the critical factors that impact young people’s access to care: privacy, confidentiality, and provider bias. These factors not only determine whether young people receive the care they need but also shape their perceptions of the quality of services provided.