ReviewBMJ global health2022
Disruptions in maternal health service use during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020: experiences from 37 health facilities in low-income and middle-income countries.
Review in BMJ global health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 113 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
113 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The impact of economic growth and recessions on maternal and child health outcomes in sub-Saharan African countries: a systematic literature review.Reproductive health · 2025Pooled it
- The effectiveness of rural community health workers in improving health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review.Global health action · 2024Pooled it
- Perinatal depression and its associated risk factors during the COVID-19 pandemic in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2024Pooled it
- Impact of COVID-19 on Maternal Health Service Uptake and Perinatal Outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Pooled it
- Essential maternal health service disruptions in Ethiopia during COVID 19 pandemic: a systematic review.BMC women's health · 2022Pooled it
- The Impact of Covid-19 on Women's Mental Health and Wellbeing During Pregnancy and the Perinatal Period: A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review.Inquiry : a journal of medical care organization, provision and financingPooled it
- An innovative Community Mobilisation and Community Incentivisation for child health in rural Pakistan (CoMIC): a cluster-randomised, controlled trial.The Lancet. Global health · 2025Trial
- Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices Towards COVID-19 Among Pregnant and Postpartum Women in Rural Bangladesh: A Cross-Sectional Study.Maternal and child health journal · 2024Trial
- Tracking the impact of maternal health service coverage on maternal mortality across 137 low- and middle-income countries in the progress toward Sustainable Development Goals.Journal of global health · 2026Article
- Nipah virus and the lessons of COVID-19: are we prepared for the next pandemic threat?Infectious medicine · 2026Review
- Mapping infant streptococcal mortality burden in low- and middle-income countries: temporal trends, geospatial patterns, and socioeconomic determinants.European journal of pediatrics · 2026Article
- Living with risk and uncertainty: a qualitative phenomenological study of women's pregnancy and postpartum experiences in Saskatchewan during COVID-19.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- The population-level impact of COVID-19 on maternal healthcare utilization: evidence from the 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey.International health · 2026Article
- Global, Regional, and National Epidemiology of Postpartum Hemorrhage (1990-2021): A Statistical Analysis of Incidence, Mortality, and DALYs.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Deaths of female sex workers and sexually exploited adolescent girls during the COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya, Nigeria, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Results of a cross-sectional study.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- The Landscape on Access to Maternal and Child Health Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic in South Africa: A Scoping Review.Interdisciplinary perspectives on infectious diseases · 2026Review
- Evidence of resiliency in maternal health services and outcomes in Kono District, Sierra Leone during the COVID-19 pandemic: an observational study.BMC public health · 2025Observational
- Maternal mortality in Peru: trends, determinants, inequalities, and the impact of COVID-19.International journal for equity in health · 2025Article
- Changes in rural China's caregiver outcomes, behaviours, and health services utilisation following the COVID-19 pandemic: an observational study.Journal of global health · 2025Observational
- Women's experiences giving birth outside of health facilities in Kenya during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study.BMJ open · 2025Article
53 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
22 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has heterogeneously affected use of basic health services worldwide, with disruptions in some countries beginning in the early stages of the emergency in March 2020. These disruptions have occurred on both the supply and demand sides of healthcare, and have often been related to resource shortages to provide care and lower patient turnout associated with mobility restrictions and fear of contracting COVID-19 at facilities. In this paper, we assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the use of maternal health services using a time series modelling approach developed to monitor health service use during the pandemic using routinely collected health information systems data. We focus on data from 37 non-governmental organisation-supported health facilities in Haiti, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mexico and Sierra Leone. Overall, our analyses indicate significant declines in first antenatal care visits in Haiti (18% drop) and Sierra Leone (32% drop) and facility-based deliveries in all countries except Malawi from March to December 2020. Different strategies were adopted to maintain continuity of maternal health services, including communication campaigns, continuity of community health worker services, human resource capacity building to ensure compliance with international and national guidelines for front-line health workers, adapting spaces for safe distancing and ensuring the availability of personal protective equipment. We employ a local lens, providing prepandemic context and reporting results and strategies by country, to highlight the importance of developing context-specific interventions to design effective mitigation strategies.
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