Family planning uptake drops in Lesotho due to COVID-19 restrictions, analysis shows
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MASERU, Lesotho Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lesotho experienced a 14 per cent decline in family planning coverage in certain districts in 2020, compared to 2019, with one district registering a significant 40 per cent drop.
This was shown by an analysis of data from the District Health Management System (DHMS2), undertaken by UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. COVID-19 restrictions as well as a strike by health-care providers in July 2020 due to a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) impacted the uptake of family planning services last year. In addition, it was noted that health workers did not consider family planning services an essential service during the lockdown.
WHITE PAPER: What s missing in women s health?
In July of last year, amidst stories in the press around HRT and contraception shortages, endometriosis going undiagnosed and unsafe medical devices being offered to women, we wrote an edition of MAGNIFI investigating the common theme between these stories – women were being let down when it came to their healthcare. Now, in 2021 for endometriosis awareness month, we are resharing this article and again asking the question: ‘what’s missing in women’s health?’
This white paper was initially published on the 9th July 2020, while the broader themes are still relevant, information on HRT stock issues may no longer apply.
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Self-care can expand access to healthcare in remote locations, unstable contexts or areas with poor health infrastructure. It can extend healthcare outside the hospital or the clinic, beyond the doctor or the nurse. It can be a pragmatic response where healthcare resources are stretched, but also enable links to care where they didn’t exist before.
Let’s empower women and girls by trusting that given the right information and tools, they can engage in their own self-care to stay healthy, no matter where they live
Carrie Hawks/MSF
Illustration of a breast self-examination.
Self-care interventions can deliver evidence-based and low-risk healthcare options directly and discreetly in the community or people’s individual homes like self-injectable contraception.