The negative ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic — including lockdowns, supply chain disruptions, and job losses — have hit women and girls particularly hard.
Women’s access to health services, including sexual and reproductive health services and access to contraceptives, were severely affected. The United Nations Population Fund estimates that nearly 12 million women lost access to contraception due to disruptions caused by the pandemic, leading to 1.4 million unintended pregnancies.
School closures caused by the pandemic have also added to the huge setback to girls’ education and some 11 million girls may not return to school as a result of child marriage, child labor, and other factors — and having children themselves.
Staying in school is one of the biggest determinants of women’s economic empowerment, as more educated women tend to earn higher salaries — just one more year of school can increase a girl’s earnings by up to 20% once she reaches adulthood.
“There really is a very obvious linkage between access to sexual reproductive health, and educational attainment, economic empowerment, social development, political participation — it really is a crosscutting issue,” said Banchiamlack Dessalegn, Africa director at MSI Reproductive Choices, an international NGO providing reproductive health care services in 37 countries.
Devex spoke to three organizations that have tirelessly kept providing women with everything from sexual and reproductive health services to mental health support during the pandemic and beyond.
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