Knowledge and Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Services: a cross-sectional study of youths in Democratic Republic of the Congo

Background There is dearth of information on the sexual and reproductive health of youths in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Demographic and Health Surveys conducted over the years focused only on maternal and child health issues. This study was conducted to ascertain the barriers for young people seeking access to Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) services. Methods A community-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted among 519 youths, aged 15 to 24 years, using a questionnaire adapted from the Demographic and Health Survey II in the DRC. The questionnaire was uploaded on the software KoBo Collect for data collection. Data collected were transferred, processed and analyzed using Excel 2007 and IBM SPSS 25.0. Descriptive analysis was performed with frequencies, means, standard deviation and proportions while association between variables were determined using chi–square (χ2) tests, with statistical significance set at p < 0.05. Results The average age of the study participants was 19.38 ± 2.49 years, with those aged 18–20 years being the largest group (39.11%). Only 317 participants (61.1%) reported having ever heard about the term SRH. Majority of the participants interviewed had never participated in any health promotion activity related to SRH issues in their community. One hundred seventy-five (35%) participants reported SRH services not being geographically accessible to them. The overwhelming majority (82%) would use SRH services if they were nearby. Only 155 (29.9%) participants had ever visited health facilities for SRH services. Respondents who were older (> 20years), male, had at least secondary education, were currently students or were of the Christian faith were more likely to be aware of SRH services (p < 0.05). Conclusions There is a poor level of access to SRH services among the youth in DRC, which is linked to poor awareness, low participation in health promotion activities and a pessimistic view of care affordability. However, age, gender, education level, and occupation of the youths plays a role in their level of awareness of SRH services. Therefore, it is advisable for the DRC to work on improving awareness of young people towards SRH services and integrating these services into other routine services. Furthermore, the concept of young people’s participation in health promotion activities is crucial and must be put into practical action by associating young people as key stakeholders in any process of making policies since this is about their SRH.