Table 1.
Modified Global standards for quality health-care services for adolescents [6]
| Key concepts | Standards |
|---|---|
| Adolescents’ health literacy (demand) | Standard 1. The health facility implements systems to ensure that adolescents are knowledgeable about their own health, and they know where and when to obtain health services. |
| Community support (demand) | Standard 2. The health facility implements systems to ensure that parents, guardians and other community members and community organizations recognize the value of providing health services to adolescents and support such provision and the utilization of services by adolescents. |
| Appropriate package of services (supply) | Standard 3. The health facility provides a package of information, counselling, diagnostic, treatment and care services that fulfils the needs of all adolescents. Services are provided in the facility and through referral linkages and outreach. |
| Providers’ competencies (supply) | Standard 4. Health-care providers demonstrate the technical competence required to provide effective health services to adolescents. Both healthcare providers and support staff respect, protect and fulfil adolescents’ rights to information, privacy, confidentiality, non-discrimination, non-judgemental attitude, and respect. |
| Facility characteristics (supply) | Standard 5. The health facility has convenient operating hours, a welcoming and clean environment and maintains privacy and confidentiality. It has the equipment, medicines, supplies and technology needed to ensure effective service provision to adolescents. |
| Equity and non-discrimination (supply) | Standard 6. The health facility provides quality services to all adolescents irrespective of their ability to pay, age, sex, marital status, education level, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, or other characteristics. |
| Data and quality improvement (demand) | Standard 7. The health facility collects, analyses, and uses data on service utilization and quality of care, disaggregated by age and sex, to support quality improvement. Health facility staff is supported to participate in continuous quality improvement. |
| Adolescents’ participation (demand) | Standard 8. Adolescents are involved in the planning, monitoring and evaluation of health services and in decisions regarding their own care, as well as in certain appropriate aspects of service provision. |
| Cultural safety (supply) | Standard 9. Adolescents experience culturally safe care, which reflects their own culture and practices, including language, traditional healing and medicine, cultural protocols; the presence and involvement of Indigenous health care providers in the delivery of care; and acknowledgement of the historical context of colonisation and racism and their correlation with health and wellbeing and the delivery of care. |