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Family planning service disruptions amid COVID-19: Longitudinal evidence from facilities in seven low- and middle-income countries

Celia Karp, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Caroline Moreau, INSERM/INED and Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
Funmilola OlaOlorun, University of Ibadan
Pierre Akilimali, Université de Kinshasa
Georges Guiella, Institut Supérieur des Sciences de La Population de L’Université Joseph Ki-Zerbo
Peter Gichangi, International Center for Reproductive Health, Kenya
Anoop Khanna, Indian Institute of Health Management (IIHMR)
Rosine Mosso, École?Nationale de Statistiques et d'Economie Appliquee of Abidjan
Fredrick Makumbi, Makerere University
Shannon Wood, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Philip A. Anglewicz, Johns Hopkins University

Researchers projected that COVID-19 would limit access to contraception, as systems-level challenges shook global supply chains and preventive measures restricted movement, reducing the workforce and services. Early evidence from sub-Saharan Africa suggested that women’s need for and use of family planning (FP) appeared more stable than initially hypothesized, signaling that reproductive health services remained operational amid pandemic-related uncertainty. We use data collected from 2,437 facilities offering FP across seven low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) between 2019 and 2021, with longitudinal data from four contexts, to 1) examine how facilities perceived COVID-19 disrupted their FP services during COVID-19 and characteristics associated with perceived disruptions, and 2) assess how reported service disruptions related to observed changes, comparing indicators of facility operations captured before and during the pandemic. Findings indicate significant variation in the impact that COVID-19 had on facility-based FP services across LMICs, with the largest disruptions to services occurring in Rajasthan. Public and higher-level facilities were generally less likely to report any COVID-19-related disruption to FP services. Low levels of disruptions to service availability overall indicate resilience of facilities to deliver SRH care during the pandemic. Future analysis will explore nuanced differences in service readiness over time

Keywords: Family planning and contraception, COVID-19, Cross-country comparative analyses, Longitudinal studies

See extended abstract.

  Presented in Session P9.