Table 1 Key Insights from Design Research Informing Major Design Decisions for a Potential Digital Platform

Youth prioritize employment and economic opportunities over health. Consistent with research findings from similar settings [13], ‘preparing for your future’ is a more culturally acceptable frame for the content than ‘learning about FP/RH’.

Include content on employment skills as well as health; introduce FP/RH content through character stories rather than as isolated FP/RH topics.

For unmarried youth, the stigma associated with accessing contraception makes the risk of exposure unbearable. Youth prefer pharmacists over clinics to access FP/RH advice and products due to their anonymity and more rapid service.

Shift focus from clinics to pharmacists; reduce barriers for youth to access appropriate care through pharmacies.

Pharmacists often lack the skills and knowledge to deliver youth-friendly care; some are afraid to provide contraception to adolescents due to cultural norms, personal biases or misunderstandings, and uncertainty around national policies on adolescent FP/RH.

Develop an intervention for pharmacists to increase their knowledge of FP/RH topics and national guidelines, and to deconstruct bias on provision of contraception to adolescents.

Urban youth report using smartphones to seek out information about FP/RH, and rates of smartphone usage among the target population are high, but computers are not readily available to the target population.

Design a web application that can be accessed via smartphone.

Adolescents consider home delivery of contraceptive products too risky and would prefer to pick up products from the pharmacy themselves.

Discard design options using motorcycle delivery in favor of a streamlined pharmacy collection option incorporating online ordering.

When choosing contraceptive methods, adolescents don’t know which products they need and may be afraid to ask too many questions.

Integrate education and context into the process of ordering contraceptive products online so youth are more confident in their choices.