Inequities in Accessing Sexual and Reproductive Health Services by Gender and Sexual Minority Populations in Kadoma in Zimbabwe. A Research Protocol

Sexual and reproductive health services are crucial for universal health coverage; however, there is limited understanding of the challenges faced by Gender and Sexual Minority populations in accessing these services in Zimbabwe. This study aims to explore these inequities and propose strategies to address them, aligning with the United Nations AIDS 2030 strategies and Sustainable Development Goals for inclusivity and equitable healthcare access. This study will employ a three-phase, sequantial mixed-methods design. It will begin with a scoping review of global literature on SRH services for GSM populations. Subsequently, a quantitative phase will administer a structured questionnaire to GSM individuals in Kadoma, Zimbabwe, followed by a qualitative phase involving key informant interviews and focus group discussions with GSM individuals and healthcare providers. A structured questionnaire (administered through Kobocollect) will be used to collect quantitative data from the respondents, and interviews and focus group discussion guides will be used to collect data from the key informants and focus group participants, respectively. Chi-squared tests, person correlational tests, and multiple regression analyses will be used in the analysis of quantitative data. The output of the interviews and focus group discussion would be transcribed, coded, and thematically analysed. The results of this proposed study may help to close gaps in the treatment of Gender and Sexual Minority populations. Therefore, this research provides a window of opportunity to explore inequities in accessing Sexual and Reproductive Health services by Gender and Sexual Minority populations and possibly come up with recommendations that, if adopted, could lead to improvement in access to and utilisation of sexual and reproductive health services in line with the expectations of the United Nations AIDS strategies and Sustainable Development Goals on sexual health services.