Strengthening County Partnerships for Sustainable Youth-Friendly Health Services

Partnership is essential to ensuring adolescents and young people can access quality, responsive and sustainable health services. Recognising this, the Direct to Consumer project met with the Nakuru County Department of Health at Njoro Sub-County Hospital to strengthen collaboration around adolescent and young people’s health.

The dialogue highlighted both progress and persistent challenges in adolescent and reproductive health. Njoro Sub-County recorded a teenage pregnancy rate of 17.8%, compared with the county average of 14%, although improvements were noted in some wards where project interventions have been implemented. Partners also reflected on systemic barriers, including inadequate emergency transport, limited blood supplies and limited communication, which continue to affect maternal and adolescent health outcomes.

A key area of concern was the prolonged shortage of family planning commodities, which have affected access to essential services. YSW-supported buffer stocks have helped sustain service availability, demonstrating the value of partnership while underscoring the need for sustainable, county-led solutions. Partners committed to joint advocacy, stronger supply chain management and mechanisms for emergency buffer stocks to protect continuity of services.

As the project transitions into its Lean Phase, the partnership will increasingly focus on embedding successful approaches within county systems. Priorities include integrating Youth-Friendly Services into Primary Care Network work plans, strengthening healthcare worker capacity, replicating the service model across other sub-counties, and ensuring consistent age- and sex-disaggregated data collection and reporting.

The meeting further identified practical steps to deepen county ownership, including stationing a dedicated nurse and counsellor at the Youth Empowerment Centre and strengthening youth-centred reproductive health services within existing county structures. These commitments set up a platform for building stronger, locally owned systems that can sustain quality services for young people.