title: Antenatal services for pregnant teenagers in Mbarara Municipality, Southwestern Uganda: health workers and community leaders' views.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Globally, about 11% of all annual births involve adolescents aged 15-19 years. Uganda has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Sub-Saharan Africa. This study assessed stakeholders' views concerning factors affecting availability, accessibility and utilization of teenager friendly antenatal services in Mbarara Municipality, southwestern Uganda.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a cross-sectional descriptive study utilizing Key Informant Interviews (KIIs). It was conducted in three divisions of Mbarara Municipality. The KIIs were held six Village Health Team (VHT) members, three gynecologists, six midwives, three Community leaders (LC 3 Secretaries for women affairs), one police officer from the Family and Child protection unit at Mbarara Police and three Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs). Data analysis was done manually by identifying emergent themes which were later coded and organized into concepts which were later developed into explanations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Reproductive health stakeholders generally considered teenage pregnancy to be among the high risk pregnancies that need to be handled with care. In addition, the reproductive health workers described their experience with teenagers as challenging due to their limited skills when it comes to addressing adolescent-specific needs. Adolescent-friendly services were defined as those that could provide privacy, enough time and patience when dealing with teenagers. With this description, there were no teenager-friendly antenatal services in Mbarara municipality at the time of the study. There is need for proactive steps to establish these services if the needs of this subgroup are to be met.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There are no teenager friendly antenatal services in Mbarara municipality and few teenagers access and utilise the available general antenatal services. There is need for specialized training for health workers who deal with pregnant teens in Mbarara Municipality in order for them to provide teenager friendly services.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, P. O. Box 1410, Mbarara, Uganda. grukundg@must.ac.ug.
authors.forename: Godfrey Zari
authors.initials: GZ
authors.lastname: Rukundo
authors.affiliation: Kampala International University, Western Campus, Bushenyi, Uganda. abaasacathy@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Abaasa
authors.affiliation: Uganda Christian University, Kampala, Uganda. natukbyamu@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Peace Byamukama
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Natukunda
authors.affiliation: Insurance Company of East Africa, Mbarara, Uganda. phiodol@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Bob Harold
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Ashabahebwa
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, University of Alberta, Calgary, AB, Canada. dominic.allain@albertahealthservices.ca.
authors.forename: Dominic
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Allain
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016497:Adolescent Health Services / Q000592:standards*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006282:Health Personnel; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008880:Midwifery; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D011247:Pregnancy; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000592:standards*; D014454:Uganda