Impact Data - Youth Radio for Better Adolescent Reproductive Health

Respondents were asked which newspaper was their most important source of RH information. 76.4% cited either Straight Talk or Young Talk; in the 2005 PC survey, only 33.1% of adolescents mentioned either Young Talk or Straight Talk.

In 2005, when asked about their most important radio source of information, 76.8% of adolescents said "no radio programme" and only 6.6% (mainly in-school adolescents) mentioned Straight Talk, referring to English or Runyankole-Rukiga radio shows. In 2009, when the local-language version had reached Kisoro, 74.6% of young people said it was their most important radio source of RH information. There is a corresponding reduction in adolescents who did not have any radio source for RH information to 7.4% in 2009.

Compared with the 2005 PC survey, there has been an increase from 43% to 52.2% in the proportion of adolescents who correctly note that a girl can get pregnant the first time she has sex, although 48.8% of respondents do not know this fact. Similarly, the percent of respondents who are aware that a girl can get pregnant if she has sex while standing has increased significantly from 38.3% to 54.2% (p=005). The proportion of young people who know that a person who looks healthy can be living with HIV also increased significantly from 69.1% to 78.4%. Significant improvements were observed in the proportion of young people who are aware that the virus can be transmitted from a mother to a child - from 55.5% to 67.9% (p=0.009); this was a smaller-than-hoped-for increase.

To assess changes in health seeking behaviours, the young people were asked if they had visited a health facility for information on HIV or family planning or for a hematocrit (HCT) or pregnancy test. The findings show little change since 2005. However, in the 2005 PC survey, only 3.2% of those surveyed (unmarried adolescents aged 10 to 19) had been tested for HIV; by 2009, this had increased to 6.6% for the 10-14 year olds, 21% for the 15-19 year olds, and 44.8% for the 20-24 year olds. When asked how they knew about the services of the testing site, 40.9% of the young people who had tested had learned about the services from radio; 7.6% specifically mentioned "Straight Talk".

A lower percent than hoped for of the sexually active respondents said they had used a condom at last sex.

There have been significant improvements in the knowledge and attitudes of young people towards condoms compared to the 2005 baseline: 65.6% of young people in 2009 compared to 35.2% in 2005 agreed that condoms are an effective way of protecting against sexually transmitted infections, or STIs (P= 0.0000). Similarly, there has been a significant increase in the proportion of young people who disagree that buying condoms is males' responsibility - from 23.2% in 2005 to 58.3% in 2009 (p=0.000). In addition, those who disagree that using a condom is a sign of mistrust rose from 15.3% in 2005 to 32.7% in 2009 (p=0.02). An insignificant difference was observed in the proportion of young people who disagree that girls carry who carry condoms are "loose" (sexually promiscuous) - from 12% in 2005 to 26.5% in 2009.

Statistically significant gender-related changes in attitudes included: many more young people who do not think that buying a condom is the sole responsibility of males; boys being much more likely to disagree with the statement that a woman should tolerate domestic violence to keep her family together; and girls being more likely to disagree with the statements that men should have the last word on sex and that boys who have many girlfriends are powerful.

Specifically, there was a significant increase (p=0.003) - from 27% in 2005 to 45.8% in 2009 - in the proportion of young people who disagree with the statement that the man who should have the final word on sex. A similar increase was seen in the proportion of young people who disagree with the statement that boys who have many girl friends are "powerful". However, many youth still have beliefs that put them at risk (e.g. 54.2% either do not know or agree with the statement that men have the final say in matters of sex).

Respondents were asked if any of their parents or guardians had ever talked to them about sexuality, growing up, and relationships between boys and girls. Findings show a significant increase (p=0.000) in the proportion of young people whose parents have talked to them about the above, with 64.7% reporting this compared to 28.2% in the 2005 PC survey.

There has been a significant drop in adolescents who say that they have "no one" to talk to about body changes, SRH, and relationships - from 20.6% in 2005 to 2.6% in 2009. Teachers are playing an increasing role: cited by 21.3% of young people in 2005 and 27.1% in 2009. "Straight Talk worker" has increased from 0.3% in 2005 to 8.5% in 2009, a sign that STF is more on the ground. Health workers are also more frequently cited, up from 1.4% in 2005 to 5.8% in 2009. In general, there seems to be more "talk" in 2009, with more young people also citing aunts, uncles, friends and peers as well.

61.4% of in-school had attended an in-school club or group discussion about reproductive health, while 38.3% of out-of-school young people had attended an out-of-school discussion. Many young people attended more than one or even regular discussions in different settings: 49% of in-school young people reported also having attended an out-of-school group talk.