United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), on Wednesday, released data that projected millions of additional cases of gender-based violence, unintended pregnancies and loss of access to family planning in the upcoming months as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The significant impacts on women's health predicted by UNFPA's research was attributed to overloaded health systems, closure of facilities or limitation of services available for women and girls as well as individual decisions to skip important medical checkups over fears of contracting COVID-19.
Furthermore, loss of access to family planning methods is expected to result due to shortages of contraceptives caused by disruptions in global supply chains. Gender-based violence is predicted to increase as women remain at home for prolonged periods during lockdowns.
UNFPA Executive Director Dr Natalia Kanem stated that the new findings demonstrate " the catastrophic impact that COVID-19 could soon have on women and girls globally. The pandemic is deepening inequalities, and millions more women and girls now risk losing the ability to plan their families and protect their bodies and their health".
"Women’s reproductive health and rights must be safeguarded at all costs. The services must continue; the supplies must be delivered; and the vulnerable must be protected and supported".
UNFPA predicted that 31 million more cases of gender-based violence will occur if lockdown measures around the world continue for 6 months. It is estimated that 15 million additional cases of gender-based violence will occur for every three months the lockdown remains in place.
A total of 47 million women in 114 low and middle-income populations may not be able to access modern contraceptives, leading to 7 million unintended pregnancies if restrictive measures currently in place are maintained for six months.
For every three months the lockdown continues, two million women may be unable to access methods of contraception.
Furthermore, the pandemic will disrupt efforts to end child marriage, potentially resulting in an additional 13 million preventable child marriages between 2020 and 2030.
Similarly, the disruption of programmes to prevent female genital mutilation is also projected to increase the number of cases by 2 million over the next decade.
The research was conducted by UNFPA with contributions from Avenir Health and Johns Hopkins University in USA as well as Victoria University in Australia.
For each estimate, the direct impact of COVID-19 on the specific issue was projected and combined with the disruption to global prevention programmes caused by the pandemic. Projections were based on recent UNFPA research into the global effort required to attain the organization’s goals by 2030.
UNFPA asserted that it is currently collaborating with governments and partners to urgently address the challenges being faced by women and girls across the world.
The efforts will focus on ensuring access to reproductive health and gender-based violence services, strengthening health systems, procuring and delivering essential supplies to protect health workers as well as promoting risk communication and community engagement.
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