Key Social Norms Take-aways This study shows that gender norms significantly influence adolescents’ health in Ethiopia, but these norms do not operate in isolation. Instead, they intersect with factors like age, disability, poverty, and rural location to compound disadvantage. For example, stigma around menstruation and contraception, particularly for girls and adolescents with disabilities, limits access to accurate health information and care. Addressing adolescent health requires tackling these overlapping barriers, not just gender alone.
Objectives To understand how gender, alongside other factors such as poverty, geography, age, and disability, shapes adolescents’ access to health information and services, and affects outcomes in general health, nutrition, puberty, and sexual and reproductive health.
Methods The research used a mixed-methods design as part of the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) study in Ethiopia. Quantitative data came from over 6,800 adolescents and caregivers across three regions, while qualitative interviews were conducted with 220 adolescents. The analysis explored self-reported health, food insecurity, knowledge about puberty and contraception, and barriers to care.
Results Girls, especially in rural areas, often lacked information about menstruation and puberty, due to family silence and cultural taboos. Many learned about menstruation only after their first period, and some girls with disabilities received no information at all. Access to contraceptive knowledge was similarly limited, shaped by cultural expectations around early fertility. In urban areas, older adolescents had better access to puberty education, but stigma around menstruation and contraception remained. Food insecurity was more common in rural households and among adolescents with disabilities. Structural barriers such as drought and limited health services worsened these challenges.
Conclusions Adolescent health programs must go beyond gender-focused approaches and consider how intersecting factors like disability, location, and poverty compound health risks. Interventions should invest in trusted relationships and community systems to support adolescents more effectively and equitably.