About 12 million women spanning 115 low to middle-income countries could not access family planning services amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Nations Population Fund estimated in a report published March 11.
As a result, there were about 1.4 million unintended pregnancies in 2020, according to the report. On average, disruptions to services and supplies lasted 3.6 months.
Access to contraceptives and other services was disrupted by travel restrictions, supply chain problems and fear of travelling to health facilities, among other factors.
The latest estimates are less widespread than initially reported in April 2020. Those estimates projected disrupted access to family planning services would affect 47 million women, resulting in 7 million unplanned pregnancies.
"This speaks to the resilience of health systems that continued to provide services, the impact of actions by partners to support access to reproductive health supplies and services and, in some contexts, the more limited spread of COVID-19 than some models initially forecast," the report said. "However, disruptions remain a concern, and limited data and some inconsistencies across countries require ongoing monitoring and anlaysis."
More articles on public health:
March 11, 2020: A look at how the COVID-19 pandemic evolved in the US
CDC reports drop in HIV testing during pandemic
CDC still urges vaccinated individuals not to travel