Table 5.
Perception of youths on the PPMV services and young people’s access to medicines including family planning services
| How often do you go to the following as sources of treatment for illness? (never, rarely, occasionally, often, very often) | Mean rating (out of 5-point Likert scale) |
|---|---|
| PPMVs | 3.4 |
| Hospitals | 2.5 |
| Health centres | 2.4 |
| Herbalists | 1.8 |
| Spiritualists | 1.6 |
| To what extent do you agree with the following (strongly disagree, disagree, unsure, agree, strongly agree) | |
| (i) PPMVs are the first and often the only point of call for health care services in this rural area | 3.7 |
| (ii) PPMVs are easily accessible to the rural dwellers | 4.2 |
| (iii) The medicines and drugs sold by the PPMVs are cheaper and more affordable than in hospitals and pharmacies | 3.7 |
| (iv) Many PPMVs in this locality sell low quality, expired or sub-standard drug to the rural dwellers | 3.2 |
| (v) Many of the PPMVs in this locality do not have the prerequisite training to operate PPMV shops | 3.3 |
| (vi) Sale of medicines without prescription is rampant in this locality | 3.8 |
| (vii) Dispensing medicines without prescription should not be encouraged | 4.0 |
| (viii) Medicines/drugs availability without restriction and control to public is big problem | 3.9 |
| (ix) PPMV shop owners and operators generally have low health knowledge about proper treatment for common illnesses, such as malaria and diarrhoea and poor health treatment practices | 3.1 |
| How often do you carry out the following? (never, rarely, occasionally, frequently, very frequently) | |
| (i) How often do you buy and use family planning products like condoms from PPMVs | 1.7 |
| (ii) How often do you buy and use family planning products like oral contraceptives from PPMVs | 1.4 |
| (iii) How often do you buy and use family planning products like contraceptives injections | 1.4 |
| (iv) How often do you buy and use sexually transmitted infections drugs/medicines from PPMVs | 1.8 |
| (v) How often have you being referred to hospitals by PPMVs for family planning related/reproductive health problems to hospitals? | 1.4 |
| (vi) How often have you being educated or advised by PPMVs on the options and usage of family planning products? | 1.8 |
| (vii) How often do access abortion/post-abortion care services from PPMVs? (For females only) | 1.4 |