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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Glob. Womens Health
Sec. Contraception and Family Planning
Volume 5 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fgwh.2024.1235475

Disparities in adult women's access to contraception during COVID-19: a multi-country cross-sectional survey

Provisionally accepted
Sara Cavagnis Sara Cavagnis 1*Rebecca Ryan Rebecca Ryan 2Aamirah Mussa Aamirah Mussa 2James Hargreaves James Hargreaves 3Joseph D Tucker Joseph D Tucker 4,5Chelsea Morroni Chelsea Morroni 2,6
  • 1 School of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine (Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
  • 2 Botswana Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership, Gaborone, Botswana
  • 3 Department of Epidemiology and Evaluation, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, London, London, United Kingdom
  • 4 Institute of Global Health and Infectious Diseases, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
  • 5 Clinical Research Department, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, London, London, United Kingdom
  • 6 MRC Centre for Reproductive Health, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    During the COVID-19 pandemic, family planning services over the world have been disrupted. There are still uncertainties about the impact on access to contraception, particularly among marginalised populations. This study aimed to assess the effect of COVID-19 on women's access to contraception, focusing on those experiencing loss of income and self-isolation. The International Sexual Health and Reproductive Health (I-SHARE) survey collected data from 5,216 women in 30 countries. Multivariable logistic regression was conducted to assess the association between loss of income during the pandemic, self-isolation and reduced access to contraception. Women experiencing loss of income and those who had self-isolated had reduced access to contraception (respectively aOR 2.3 and 1.7, for both p<0.001). Most women reported inaccessibility of health centres, fear of COVID-19, and stockouts as reasons for reduced access. This study highlights how socio-demographic differences may have impacted access to contraception during the pandemic. People experiencing income loss and self-isolation might have faced increased barriers to family planning during the pandemic. Contraception should be prioritised in times of crisis: when planning services, financial support, telehealth and other measures should be implemented in order to increase access and reduce inequalities.

    Keywords: Contraception, Family planning, COVID-19, disparities, access, Income loss

    Received: 06 Jun 2023; Accepted: 02 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Cavagnis, Ryan, Mussa, Hargreaves, Tucker and Morroni. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Sara Cavagnis, School of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine (Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.