About 12 million women might have lost access to contraception due to health disruptions amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) said yesterday, warning that the poorest and most vulnerable people were the hardest hit.
A loss of family planning services for about three months had likely led to 1.4 million unintended pregnancies, the UN agency said, citing data from 115 low and middle-income countries.
“COVID has wrought havoc on the women and girls of the world, but the poorest and the most vulnerable now are seeing the most dire consequences,” UNFPA executive director Natalia Kanem told reporters.
The data suggested “that in wealthier countries, fewer babies are being born, whereas in developing countries — more babies, lack of access to contraceptive services,” Kanem said.
Lockdowns, fears of contagion and travel to health facilities led to fears over access to family planning when the virus began to spread globally last year, while global supply chain disruption has also posed a challenge.
The agency said evidence suggested that there were concentrated declines in family planning services in April and May last year, but that many countries restored access after that.
Its new projections used anonymous Google Mobility data for grocery stores and pharmacies as a proxy for access to essential services.
They suggested that 12 million women might have been unable to access family planning because of the pandemic, although its estimates were a broad range from 4 million to 23 million.
The data suggest that the international community prevented the worst-case scenario, with research early in the pandemic suggesting between 13 and 44 million women could have lost access to contraception, Kanem said.
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