For young people, the triple threat of HIV, gender-based violence (GBV), and unintended pregnancies presents significant risks to their health, well-being, and future, highlighting the importance of integrated HIV prevention, GBV prevention, and family planning (FP) services. Access to accurate information, respectful care and trusted health services is therefore essential. For Runzy Fellon, a young woman from Kasabuni, an informal settlement in Nairobi, quality care is not only about the service she receives. It is also about how she feels when she seeks it.
At Hope Tunza Medical Centre, one of the facilities implementing the TIKO programme through the Tunza franchise by Population Services Kenya, Runzy found a space where she could speak openly about her needs and feel comfortable seeking care. “I can express my feelings,” she says, reflecting on the friendliness that has shaped her experience at the facility.
For young people, that sense of comfort can make an important difference. Access to a health facility does not always mean that a young person feels confident enough to ask questions, discuss their concerns or make informed choices. Quality care begins when they feel welcomed, listened to and respected.
At Hope Tunza Medical Centre, health care providers are trained in counselling for choice(C4C) to make that experience part of everyday care. When a client seeks family planning services, providers explain the available options, including their advantages and disadvantages, allow time for questions and use open-ended conversations to understand the client’s needs. The aim is to ensure that the client is informed and able to choose the method that works for them.
This is the kind of change the TIKO programme is supporting through the Tunza Franchise to strengthen private healthcare providers, the programme focuses on provider skills, quality assessment and the delivery of respectful, informed and youth-friendly services.
The need for this support was evident before the facility became part of the programme. The facility in-charge recalls challenges in reaching women of reproductive age and addressing concerns and fears around family planning. TIKO-supported community mobilisation helped connect more women to services, contributing to an increase in the number of clients accessing family planning at the facility.
For young clients, however, quality also means knowing that a service will be available when they need it. The facility works to maintain the availability of family planning products, while clients receive guidance on when to return for their next service. These practices help create continuity of care and a more reliable experience for clients.
The impact also extends beyond the individual client. By strengthening private facilities to provide timely, quality services, TIKO contributes to a wider health system in which people have more options for accessing care. Providers at the facility describe how timely services in the private sector can help decongest nearby public facilities while enabling women of reproductive age to receive care closer to their communities.
For PS Kenya, whose work is centred on advancing better health and wellbeing, strengthening these everyday points of care is an important part of creating healthier communities. Through the TIKO programme, this means supporting providers and facilities to deliver services that respond to people’s needs, while ensuring that young people can access information and care in an environment where they feel heard and respected.
For Runzy, the difference can be captured in something as simple as being able to express herself. But behind that experience is a deliberate investment in the quality of care she receives. It is the provider who takes time to listen, the information that allows her to make a choice, and the confidence that she can seek care without fear of judgement.
When young people feel heard, quality care becomes more than a service. It becomes a place where trust begins, choices are informed and better health and wellbeing can take root.