Projects per year
Abstract
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic forced billions of people to shelter in place, altering social and sexual relationships worldwide. In many settings, COVID-19 threatened already precarious health services. However, there is limited evidence to date about changes to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) during the initial wave of COVID-19 disease. To address this gap, our team organized a multi-country, cross-sectional online survey as part of a global consortium.
Methods: Consortium research teams conducted online surveys in 30 countries. Sampling methods included convenience, online panels, and population-representative. Primary outcomes included sexual behaviors, partner violence, and SRH service utilization, and we compared three months prior to and three months after policy measures to mitigate COVID-19. We used established indicators and analyses pre-specified in our protocol. We conducted meta-analyses for primary outcomes and graded the certainty of the evidence using Cochrane methods. Descriptive analyses included 22,724 individuals in 25 countries. Five additional countries with sample sizes <200 were included in descriptive meta-analyses.
Results: Respondents were mean age 34 years; most identified as women (15160; 66.7%), cis-gender (19432; 86.6%) and heterosexual (16592; 77.9%). Among 4546 respondents with casual partners, condom use stayed the same for 3374 (74.4%) people and 640 (14.1%) people reported a decline. Fewer respondents reported physical or sexual partner violence during COVID-19 measures (1063/15144, 7.0%) compared to the period before COVID-19 measures (1469/15887, 9.3%). COVID-19 measures impeded access to condoms (933/10790, 8.7%), contraceptives (610/8175, 7.5%), and HIV/STI testing (750/1965, 30.7%). Pooled estimates from meta-analysis indicate during COVID-19 measures, 32.3% (95% CI 23.9-42.1) of people needing HIV/STI testing had hindered access, 4.4% (95% CI 3.4-5.4) experienced partner violence, and 5.8% (95% CI 5.4-8.2) decreased casual partner condom use (moderate certainty of evidence for each outcome). Meta-analysis findings were robust in sensitivity analyses that examined country income level, sample size, and sampling strategy.
Conclusion: Open science methods are feasible to organize research studies as part of emergency responses. The initial COVID-19 wave impacted SRH behaviors and access to services across diverse global settings.
Original language | English |
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Publisher | medRxiv |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 19 Oct 2021 |
Publication series
Name | medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences |
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Keywords*
- COVID-19 pandemic
- sexual and reproductive health
Field of Science*
- 3.3 Health sciences
Publication Type*
- 6. Other publications
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Dive into the research topics of 'The International Sexual Health And Reproductive Health Survey (I-SHARE-1): A Multi-Country Analysis of Adults from 30 Countries Prior to and During the Initial COVID-19 Wave'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 1 Finished
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Impact of COVID-19 on health care system and public health in Latvia; ways in preparing health sector for future epidemics
Ķīvīte-Urtāne, A. (Project leader), Rancāns, E. (Leading expert), Koļesņikova, J. (Leading expert), Perepjolkina, V. (Leading expert), Vrubļevska, J. (Leading expert), Mārtinsone, K. (Leading expert), Lazdāne, G. (Leading expert), Rajevska, O. (Expert), Ivanovs, A. (Leading expert), Villeruša, A. (Leading expert), Behmane, D. (Leading expert), Gobiņa, I. (Leading expert), Šmits, D. (Leading expert), Briģis, Ģ. (Leading expert), Spriņģe, L. (Expert), Viduskalne, I. (Expert), Brinkmane, A. (Expert), Senakola, E. (Expert), E. Uribe, S. (Expert), Gardovska, D. (Leading expert), Pavāre, J. (Expert), Grope, I. (Expert), Rezeberga, D. (Leading expert), Kantāne, I. (Expert), Stars, I. (Leading expert), Smane, L. (Expert), Briedīte, I. (Expert), Miķelsone, M. (Expert), Gehtmane-Hofmane, I. (Expert), Liniņa, I. (Expert), Kursīte, M. (Expert), Bikava, I. (Expert), Dūdele, A. (Expert), Pučuka, Z. (Expert), Regzdiņa-Pelēķe, L. (Expert), Strēle, I. (Expert), Reine, I. (Leading expert), Maldupa, I. (Leading expert), Čurkste, A. (Administrative manager), Jaudzeme, D. (Participant), Baltmane, D. (Expert (PhD student)), Reine, A. (Expert (PhD student)), Aleskere, I. (Expert (PhD student)), Rezgale, B. (Expert (PhD student)), Šuriņa, S. (Expert (PhD student)), Paiča, I. (Expert (PhD student)), Ārgale, E. (Expert (PhD student)), Šibalova, A. (Expert (PhD student)), Pitkēviča, I. (Expert (PhD student)), Upesleja, G. (Expert (PhD student)), Bundzena-Ervika, A. (Expert (PhD student)), Gravina, M. L. (Expert (PhD student)), Sļepcova, O. (Expert (PhD student)), Šilova, N. (Expert (PhD student)), Olsena, S. (Expert), Koroļeva, I. (Expert), Mieriņa, I. (Expert), Kadile, L. (Expert (PhD student)), Sniķere, S. (Expert), Aleksandrovs, A. (Expert), Veide, S. (Expert), Nārtiņš, A. (Expert), Rūtītis, D. (Expert) & Ketners, K. (Expert)
1/07/20 → 31/03/21
Project: National Research Programme