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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – Today, the Guttmacher Institute, in partnership with the International Youth Alliance for Family Planning (IYAFP), released new estimates on the devastating impact the COVID-19 pandemic could have on young people’s sexual and reproductive health and rights if policymakers do not take swift action.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, global health programs and institutions failed to fully serve the sexual and reproductive health needs of young people in low- and middle-income countries, leading to critical gaps in information and services.
The pandemic is now taking a disproportionate toll on this population, as they find themselves cut off from educational opportunities, at greater risk of human rights violations and with reduced access to health care, including sexual and reproductive health care, all of which could have multigenerational implications.
New Numbers: In order to get a clearer picture of the potential effects of the pandemic on adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health outcomes, researchers looked at a range of possible declines in care for 132 low- and middle-income countries due to COVID-19 disruptions.
These new estimates illustrate the potentially devastating impact a decline of 12–25% in essential sexual and reproductive health care—including contraceptive services, maternal care and abortion—could have on adolescents’ health outcomes. We found that for 15–19-year-olds:
- A 12% average decline in modern contraceptive use would result in an additional 734,000 unintended pregnancies.
- A 25% average decline in essential pregnancy-related care would result in an additional 134,000 major obstetric complications and an additional 3,400 maternal deaths.
- A 23% shift in abortions from safe to unsafe would lead to an additional 491,000 unsafe abortions.
Background: Young people in low- and middle-income countries have experienced persistent inequities in sexual and reproductive health and rights for generations.
And now, pre-existing gaps are growing in new and harmful ways because of the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving people who already had the fewest resources and options in an even more precarious situation.
According to Guttmacher data from 2019, 43% of sexually active adolescent women aged 15–19 who want to avoid a pregnancy are not using a modern form of contraception (e.g., hormonal pills, IUDs, condoms).
- This results in 10 million unintended pregnancies each year and 5.7 million abortions, the majority of which occur in unsafe conditions.
- Out of the 12 million adolescents who give birth each year, nearly four million do not deliver in a health facility, leaving them without access to skilled care for routine deliveries and newborn care, as well as for obstetric complications.
Steps Forward: It is critical that policymakers not divert allocated funds away from adolescent sexual and reproductive health care and instead invest in comprehensive, adolescent-focused services.
- For only $1 US per person per year in low- and middle-income countries, all adolescents in need could receive essential sexual and reproductive health care, including modern contraception, maternal and newborn care, and abortion care. This amount is just 59 cents more per person than the current costs for what are insufficient levels of care.
- But action must go beyond funding. Policymakers need to prioritize sexual and reproductive health care that meets young people’s needs, both during and after the pandemic.
Read the full analysis, with policy recommendations, at Guttmacher.org.