Area: 7 Districts of Districts of MP

Target Group: 15 to 24 year Adolescent’s Girls & women’s
Objectives of Project: Strengthen knowledge, attitude and practices among young women on SRH services including legality and availability of abortion services. Strengthen knowledge and practices of local health providers (doctors) and health intermediaries from selected public health sites to improve access to SRH services for young women.

Sponsor Agency: Grant Challenge Canada (GCC) & Ipas Development Foundation (IDF)

Program Activity and outcome:Sensitize state / district health officials to expand the work in two more districts, partnering with youth to sensitize young women in the community, Use of existing IEC available with RKSK and Family Planning division of the state. Need based adaptation and designing of required communication material and tools to suit local needs, Intensive community outreach by trained youths (Youth Leaders) with young women in the catchment area of selected public health facilities, creating youth friendly SRH services in the selected public health facilities and strengthening referral linkages to these facilities. Strengthen ARSH clinics and engage with the counselor to ensure youth friendly services. Facility based intervention to sensitize HSPs and existing counselors.

We would like to thank the ‘Working Group on discrimination against women and girls’ for this opportunity to highlight the impact of crises on the realization of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), and to acknowledge actions taken by States to limit the negative impact of crises on these rights.

Across our 37-country program, we have seen the impact of COVID-19 on SRH access and rights. With national lockdowns restricting movement, a lack of information about what services are available, and overwhelmed health systems diverting resources to the COVID-19 response, access to SRHR, including contraception, safe abortion and post-abortion care has been restricted and barriers have increased.

In Nepal, strict lock downs restricting movement affected the ability of clients and providers to access or deliver SRH services and put stresses on supply chains for reproductive commodities. The Government has since taken action to address these issues, declaring contraception, safe abortion and post-abortion care services as essential health services

In Pakistan, while centers and pharmacies are still able to provide services at a reduced rate, outreach teams serving rural and marginalized communities have been suspended due to the lockdown.

In Zambia, the Government declared that mobile outreach teams providing contraceptive services to rural and marginalized communities were not essential, restricting access to SRH services for these communities during the pandemic.

In India, the country went into a strict lockdown and did not declare SRH services as essential, causing our programmes to shut down. As the largest provider of contraceptive services outside of the public sector, our inability to offer services has had a substantial impact for hundreds of thousands, especially for people living in hard-to-reach locations or those from marginalized groups. After negotiation with the Government, some of our services have been re-initiated.

A lack of information or knowledge on what services are still available perceived reduced availability of abortion services has also been a barrier to access. For example, in the UK, 81% of women thought that abortion services were available from an abortion clinic before the pandemic, compared to just 21% thinking that this service was available during the COVID-19 pandemic. This appears to be a global trend of lack of information and awareness of service availability during the COVID-19 pandemic. In South Africa, only 43% of women surveyed thought that people could access an abortion service from a private abortion clinic during the pandemic, compared to 76% before the pandemic. Likewise, in India, perceived availability of abortion services from a clinic decreased from 61% to 44%.