Efficacy of Social Media for Accessing Sexual and Reproductive Health Information by Youth in Nairobi, Kenya: Case of AMREF Programme

Social media has recently emerged as an increasingly powerful health promotion platform that could help, but research remains limited on its usefulness and practical applications in Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) interventions. This study explored the efficacy of social media for accessing SRH information among youth in Mathare area of Nairobi using a case study of Y-ACT programme being implemented by Africa Medical Research Foundation (AMREF) in Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were to analyze general patterns of social media usage, assess the sources of SRH information sought and accessed on social media, determine the types of SRH information accessed on social media, and examine barriers faced in accessing SRH information on social media. The study adopted the descriptive survey study design. Stratified sampling was used in the selection of members within the respective groups due to the group arrangements, followed by simple random sampling from the members in the groups to provide all group members with equal chances of participating in the research. To obtain primary data from the respondents, copies of questionnaire were distributed to the youth, and relevant group leaders and Y-ACT programme officials were interviewed by the researcher. Descriptive statistics was applied to analyse quantitative data, where data was scored by calculating percentages using Microsoft Excel software. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data by understanding, organizing, interpreting, and presenting emerging thematic patterns. According to the findings of the study, social media is increasingly popular channel of communication particularly among youth. Top social media in order of popularity were Google, WhatsApp, YouTube, and Facebook, followed by TikTok, Twitter and Instagram. Telegram was least popular. Additionally, findings from both primary and secondary data in this study highlighted the significant use by the respondents and potential of social media for accessing relevant SRH information, mainly on family planning.