PE6.9-10 | Adolescent Friendly Health Services — Summary & Reflection

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Adolescent Friendly Health Services (AFHS) are health services specifically designed to be accessible, equitable, acceptable, appropriate, comprehensive, effective, efficient, and youth-friendly — the eight WHO quality criteria. In India, AFHS are delivered operationally through RKSK (Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram), the national adolescent health programme launched in 2014 under NHM, covering 253 million adolescents (10–19 years) across six domains: nutrition, sexual and reproductive health, mental health, NCDs, substance use, and violence. The primary clinical delivery point is the AFHC (Adolescent Friendly Health Clinic), staffed by a trained RKSK counsellor, providing health checkup, HEEADSSS screening, WIFS distribution (100 mg iron + 500 mcg folic acid weekly), counselling, and first-line interventions. Key referral triggers from AFHC include: sexual assault (<72 h) → OSCC (POCSO-mandated); suicidal ideation with plan → mental health emergency; severe anaemia (<7 g/dL) → inpatient. PE6.10 requires observation of an adolescent clinic — use the WHO AFHS criteria as an evaluation framework during the visit.

REFLECT

After completing your PE6.10 visit to an adolescent clinic, reflect on the gap between what AFHS is designed to be — accessible, non-judgmental, confidential, comprehensive — and what you actually observed. Was the physical environment welcoming? Were adolescents seen alone at any point? Did the service feel qualitatively different from a standard OPD? These questions matter not as academic exercises but because you will one day be in a position to shape how adolescent health services are delivered in your institution. What single change would have the greatest impact on adolescent utilisation of the clinic you visited?