Barriers to SRH service

The other striking finding from this study was about a sexual and reproductive health service issue. Sexual and reproductive health services have an important role for street females. However, participants mention that there are barriers that hinder street women from using the service. Among these, participants mentioned that service providers have an unwelcoming face in providing SRH services. Treatment of some healthcare professionals, fear of stigma and discrimination hinder them from visiting healthcare professionals. One of the FGD discussants shared her experience as follows;

“Let me tell you one story. It has been 3 months since I delivered a baby girl at the health center. At that time, the doctor yelled at me ‘why would you open your leg to have sex with everyone around with all your current problems?’ he shouted and treated me like a dog. Do you think I recklessly welcome everyone to have sex? No! Life is tough. So even if I wanted to go to a health center for some kind of case, I won’t go there because they humiliate me. Even last time I had an itching sensation in my vagina but didn’t go for a check-up. Yes, I know…… I have to go to a health center whenever I face a sexual-related problem, but I don’t feel good when I go there.“

(FGD discussant)

On top of this, this study reveals that street women have a lack of knowledge about the availability of the service. As the participants stated, they had never heard about SRH services. The lack of information on the availability of services is the biggest barrier to street children not using the service. Narration from a key informant mentioned as follows;

“As I told you, sexual-related problems like rape, harassment, unwanted pregnancy, and HIV are very high among women living on the street. So I believe there is a lack of knowledge on what to do when they are pregnant and also where to report any sexual abuse. There is still so much work to be done. They do not even know what a sexually transmitted disease is, especially children. But they are suffering from the diseases. There is a lack of awareness of where to go when they face sexual-related problems. Also, there is negligence among women living on the street due to different factors like substance abuse, rumors .......”

(key informant)