Over the recent years, there has been a tangible shift in policies and initiatives geared towards women’s healthcare, from a targeted focus on family planning to a broader and more holistic approach towards sexual & reproductive health. However, the COVID pandemic could potentially reverse developments made in women’s healthcare. Significant disruptions have already been observed in access to family planning and contraception services.
According to the UNICEF, lockdown can result in a consequence of roughly 7 million unintended pregnancies, worldwide. In India alone, of all pregnancies occurring each year, as many as 45 per cent are unintended. There has also been an increase in the risk of unsafe abortions, sexually transmitted diseases like HIV and pregnancy complications. Safeguarding women’s health and enabling uninterrupted access to contraception must be prioritized.
Globally, an estimated 214 million women who want to avoid pregnancy are not using an effective contraceptive method. A study by MSI estimated India was especially hard hit by COVID, which led to roughly 1.3 million women losing access to contraceptives and safe abortion procedures. Almost a third of women in India seeking contraceptive services, including advice or products, were unable to attend clinics due to fear of infection. This indicates a clear, unmet need for family planning across a significant proportion of the population.
The first step to meeting this need is through education and awareness. With vital sexual and reproductive health information, women can be empowered to understand and effectively adopt contraceptive and family planning solutions. Ultimately, this information can enable them to take control of their own reproductive health. However, issues of stigma, particularly in discussing ‘taboo’ topics, pose barriers to women seeking health information. This creates a need for innovative solutions that overcome such impediments while driving expanded access to care.
A silver lining emerging is the significant increase in the adoption of telehealth services across apps, chatbots and teleconsultations. Previously, telemedicine was not as widely adopted, more so because it was not recognized by the government. Now, women can easily access reliable information and judgment-free advice on their sexual and reproductive health. Evidence-based information is also vital to break the cycle of misinformation. And now, a growing percentage of women using tech-enabled services for sexual and reproductive wellness feel more in control of their choices. They can easily seek answers to common queries, including understanding the contraceptive options best suited to them, or what to do in case they missed a pill.
Technology-enabled solutions are also important for monitoring conditions such as endometriosis, which is a painful disorder commonly involving one’s ovaries, fallopian tubes and the tissue lining the pelvis, while enhancing treatment adherence. Digital tools such as chatbot ‘Ask Tanu’ and mobile applications such as ‘Bare Your Pain’ offer easier methods to consult a specialist to discuss family planning. Further, by providing comprehensive health information, these prompt more meaningful doctor-patient interactions and drive patient-centric care, thus contributing to enhanced quality of life outcomes. With telemedicine streamlining access, as many as 60 per cent to 70 per cent of consultations now occur virtually, including the partners for contraceptive advice. Such teleconsultations have turned out to useful for especially working women, who previously experienced problems of working hour conflicts with their doctors and consequently avoided consultations. Technology has thus been a critical enabler in the recovery and resilience of today’s health systems, spearheading greater access to care.
To further streamline access to sexual and reproductive healthcare, the government has also driven schemes to fulfil unmet population needs. For instance, with schemes like the National Health mission’s Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCH+A) program, the government has driven a series of interventions to ensure a continuum of care, focusing on women and children’s health. India was also the first country in the world to launch a National program for Family Planning, but certain aspects of care delivery still need strengthening.
Some of the specific initiatives the government can drive include training more frontline workers to offer women’s care referrals, integrating sexual and reproductive health more closely into national health facilities and outreach programs, such as across primary health centres, and streamlining access to the entire basket of choice of contraceptive options to women. The nation can thus make considerable progress in scaling access to women’s healthcare resources and services.
Women need to prioritize their sexual and reproductive health, just as much as their physical and emotional health. As a nation, we must emphasize family planning and effective contraception usage, so that the number of unplanned pregnancies can be drastically reduced. Thus, alongside strengthening the delivery of women’s healthcare, encouraging sexual and reproductive health to form part of the public health discourse is a vital step forward in the right direction.
