Figure 41: Who paid for SRH services accessed by young people

Figure 41: Who paid for SRH services accessed by young people.

As observed in the figure above, a majority (62%) and indeed more than half of the young people 13% who accessed and utilized services paid for themselves, 13% 62% followed by those who were paid for by their parents/caregivers and those whose partners paid, each representing 13%. Only 6% mentioned that the costs for SRH services were borne by the peer educators. This should not be surprising considering that peer educators are more supposed to play a linkage role to facilities that provide the needed service than personally bearing the cost of the service. Of importance to note is the proportion of young people who reported that SRH services were paid by their caregivers/parents. While this is not necessarily high, it may suggest an emerging attitude shift among parents towards access to and utilization of SRH services by young people. In terms of pricing, the data reveals that the highest price paid to access SRH services was 250,000/= (for maternity and child delivery) while the lowest was 100/= (for HIV/AIDS screening and testing). On the other hand, the overall average price for accessing SRH services was 40,470/=. Only one caregiver out of the total (46) whose young people sought and obtained services mentioned that he/she had to pay UGX 55,000 for their dependent’s pregnancy test, a cost that the caregiver found very high. The rest (45) accounting for 97.83% reported that they did not have to pay anything for young people to access SRH services. Associated costs such as transport costs to access SRH services are also an important consideration and can either facilitate or constrain young people’s access to SRH services. Results reveal that the highest associated cost paid to access SRH services was 60,000/=. On the other hand, a majority (17.86%) of the young people who accessed and obtained SRH services did not have to spend any other money. Combined, young people who spent 1000/= or less were 53.58%, while those who spent 2000/= or less were 64.29%. Despite the relatively low associated costs in accessing sexual and reproductive health services, results seem to indicate that vulnerable categories of young people are more negatively affected than their counterparts without disabilities. In an FGD with caregivers of young people with disabilities, one participant observed that:

6% 6% Myself Parent/Caregiver Partner/Spouse RAHU Peer educator Other relative