SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SERVICES UTILIZATION AMONG YOUTHS: THE CASE OF ODA BULTUM UNIVERSITY STUDENTS, EASTERN ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Background: In Ethiopian higher education institutions, only 46.6% of youths know what reproductive health mean and 44% know thier sexual and reproductive rights. Youths are facing multiple sexual and reproductive health problems due to inadequate awareness, less lived-in life experience, and inaccessible and poor quality sexual and reproductive health services, yet rarely considered as a priority health problem and hence, their sexual and reproductive health needs and issues remain unmet and unaddressed. However, there is scanty of information on utilization and determinants of sexual and reproductive health services among students in eastern Ethiopia particularly in Oda Bultum University. Objective: To assess sexual and reproductive health services utilization among students in Oda Bultum University in Eastern Ethiopia, from September 1-30, 2024. Method: An institutional-based cross-sectional study conducted among 566 randomly selected undergraduate students in Oda Bultum University using multistage stratified sampling technique. A pretested-structured questionnaire was used to collect the data from the participants through self-adminstered. Data were analyzed using StataMP/17. Descriptive statistics were used to describe outcome and independent variables. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to identify factors associated with sexual and reproductive health services utilization. Adjusted odds ratio with its 95% confidence interval was used to report the association and significance declared at P-value<0.05. Results: A total of 556(98.2%) of students participated in the study. The mean (±SD) age of students was 23.02±7.33 years and 64.2% of the students were in age the group of 21-24 years. The overall, more than half, 325(58.5%) of the students were utilizing sexual and reproductive health services utilization (95%CI: 53.8%, 62.4%). Age of 20-24 years (AOR=1.85(1.08,3.17)), female (AOR=1.60(1.05,2.44)), attending secondary education at government school (AOR=3.77(2.02,7.02)), paternal education (AOR= 3.27 (2.03,5.18)), rich (AOR=2.92 (1.73, 4.92)), parental discussion on SRH issues (AOR=1.72 (1.12, 2.65)) and perceived affordability of SRH services (AOR=3.16 (1.99,5.03)) significantly associated with SRH services utilization. Conclusions: This study revealed utilization of sexual and reproductive health service utilization of students was low compared to national adolescent and youth SRH strategic target/standard. In this study, age, gender, paternal education, wealth status, parental communication on SRH issues and perceived affordability of SRH services were significantly predictors of sexual and reproductive health services utilization of youth students.