Ensuring Follow-Up Of Clients To Avert Unplanned Pregnancy
No doubt, the COVID-19 pandemic has far-reaching implications for reproductive health and family planning services globally. This includes challenges posed by the virus itself and longstanding gaps in health policies and programmes.
According to Guttmacher’s Institute, every year, nearly 700 million women access modern contraceptive methods, over 90 million give birth in a health facility, and tens of millions access safe abortion services in low and middle income countries (LMICs) all around the world.
However, experts have alerted that many people are unable to access family planning, Maternal Newborn Child services as well as other essential health services. Bad policies and structural barriers contribute to these risks.
On the supply chain, Guttmacher said, that there is a disruption in the manufacturing of key pharmaceutical components of contraceptive methods or the manufacture of the method itself like condoms and delay in transportation of contraceptive commodities.
Unfortunately, the Guttmacher research team painted a terrible picture of the pandemic on the provision of sexual and reproductive health service provision from 132 LMICs, covering 1.6 billion women in the reproductive ages of between 15 and 49.
Also, the United Nation(UN) had in a recent report alerted that the consequences of the COVID-19 lockdown could lead to seven million unwanted pregnancies as a result of a decrease in access to contraceptives thereby putting global healthcare system under pressure. The UN further predicted that 47 million women may not be able to access contraceptives if the COVID–19 lockdown persisted for straight six months.
Similarly, lamenting the huge drawbacks on family planning services, maternal and child, and other essential health services, recently in the country, Reproductive Health Division of the Federal Ministry of Health ( FMoH) acknowledged the disruption at the tertiary, secondary and primary health facilities following movement restrictions to contain COVID-19 spread, which caused commodities stock-out.
Similarly, Kosi Izundu of Pathfinder International Nigeria attested to this when she noted that COVID-19 lockdown and the attendant family planning stock-outs would trigger increase in unplanned pregnancies and rise in population in the country.
Izundu added that it would surely have serious impact on access to family planning information and services as well as sexual and reproductive health at large.
“We are not surprised to see increase in stock outs at the health facilities and a possible post-COVID unplanned pregnancies because people were locked down at a time and unable to access family planning services,” she said.
Perhaps, worsening is the impact of COVID-19 on the provision of core family planning services including, reduced commodities and consumables supplies, equipment and staff being diverted to other types of care.
These include, disruptions in supply chain, women choosing to deliver outside of facilities, clinic closures and avoiding preventive care, like family planning counselling.
Crucial to the success of family planning efforts worldwide is a well-educated and trained health workforce who provides counselling among other things.
The role of family planning counselling is to support a woman and her partner in choosing the method of family planning that best suits them and to support them in solving any problems that may arise with the selected method.
During late pregnancy, after giving birth and after an abortion, it is important that the woman or the couple receives and discusses correct and appropriate information so that they can choose a method which best meets their needs.
For instance, the flagship Primary Healthcare Centre at Ita-Elewa, Ikorodu, Lagos State which which used to be filled with women waiting for their turns to obtain one family planning method or the other, the number has reduced due to fear getting infected with COVID-19.
To beat this situation and ensure that proper counseling with follow-up on using family planning commodities, the Ita-Elewa PHC adopted “telemedicine” to reach out to family planning users via sms and phone calls.
Speaking to some members of Society for Media Advocacy on Health, Nigeria in an interaction, Adeyanju Rotimi, the Family planning provider of the Centre, revealed;
“We follow up women who are on our family planning list by calling them to find out on their next uptake.”We also make great use of Post Partum Family Planning Method (PPFP) because women who just put to bed and needs family planning hardly visit the hospital until after one month for their child’s immunisation, they could get pregnant. We included PPFP to urge women to adopt family planning to prevent unplanned pregnancies.”We start counselling and sensitising them during ante natal and PPFP sessions until they deliver their babies so we immediately introduce any method that suits them.”
-Adeyanju Rotimi
She said through Post Partum Family Planning Method, women are able to access contraception as well as a follow-up to ensure strict adherence and compliance.
