Premium
Access to Adolescent Reproductive Health Services: Financial and Structural Barriers to Care
Author(s) -
HockLong Linda,
HercegBaron Roberta,
Cassidy Amy M.,
Whittaker Paul G.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
perspectives on sexual and reproductive health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.818
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1931-2393
pISSN - 1538-6341
DOI - 10.1111/j.1931-2393.2003.tb00135.x
Subject(s) - hock , management , executive director , program director , library science , sociology , medicine , medical education , computer science , economics , anatomy
Since the early 1970s, adolescent pregnancy rates in the United States, the United Kingdom and other western European countries have dropped significantly, partly because of the availability of more effective contraceptive methods and increases in condom use. I Despite this progress, U.S. youth continue to be at greater risk for pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) than their British and other western European peers. Given these disparities, can experiences in other developed countries inform U.S. prevention efforts? We believe that they can, and the results of Stone and Ingham's investigation of when and why British youth seek sexual health services, on page 114 of this issue, provide an instructive starting point. A country's approaches to prevention are rooted in an interplay of socioeconomic, political and cultural forces. Consequently, to examine the relevance of Stone and Ingham's findings and recommendations in the context of the United States, it is necessary first to review the ways in which these forces impact access to reproductive health care.