Evaluation of the ATBEF Youth Centre in Lome, Togo

In 1998, the Association Togolaise Pour le Bien Etre Familiale launched a youth centre in Lomé, Togo. To evaluate the centre, a three-year panel study was undertaken. Three years after being launched, about 10% of surveyed youth had visited the centre. Youth who lived close to the centre had contact with a peer educator and were exposed to television were more likely to have visited the youth centre than all others. Visiting the youth centre and having contact with a peer educator were associated with greater contraceptive use in the matched sample. Youth centre clinical users were younger, less likely to be married and less likely to have ever been pregnant than clinical users of other sites. The youth centre is meeting its goal of providing services to high-risk youth in Lomé. To increase youth centre access for all youth, it will be necessary to increase the number of youth centres.