The impact of COVID-19 infection on maternal and reproductive health care services in governmental health institutions of Dessie town, North-East Ethiopia, 2020 G.C.

  1. Kibir Temesgen
  2. Amare Workie
  3. Tenagnework Dilnessa

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Abstract

Background

The COVID 19 pandemic is causing huge stress on the health care system of all countries in the world. The impact of the pandemic is both social and economic. Pregnancy is an exciting and sometimes stressful experience. Being pregnant during a disease outbreak may add extra anxiety and concern for pregnant women and for those who provide care for them [1, 2].

During the initial stages of the pandemic, it appeared Africa would be spared the burden of COVID-19. However, by April 7th, a total of 45 countries within the WHO African region had reported over 7000 cases (although some place it at over 10 000), with at least 292 deaths and 612 people recovered. Ethiopia, being one of the developing countries trying to address the diverse needs of its people, is currently at the verge of the epidemic [5, 7].

Objectives

The general objective of this study was to assess the impact of COVID-19 infection on maternal and reproductive health care services among mothers getting service in governmental health institutions of Dessie town, 2020 G.C.

Methods

Institution based cross sectional study design using mixed (quantitative supplemented with qualitative) method was employed to identify the impact of COVID-19 infection on maternal and reproductive health care services among women who get service in governmental health institutions of Dessie town. The study was conducted from July 1-15 / 2020.

Result

According to this study, Six percent (6%) of antenatal care attendees, 18% of delivery care attendees and nearly half (46.7%) of postnatal care attendees reported inappropriate service delivery due to fear of health care providers, shortage medical supplies and staff work load. The study also showed that utilization of these services was decreased due to fear of clients to go to health institutions.

Conclusion and recommendation

This study concluded that COVID-19 significantly affects the quality and utilization of maternal and reproductive health care services. The study also showed that utilization of these services was decreased due to fear of clients to go to health institutions. Ministry of health should continue maternity and reproductive health care services such as family planning to be prioritized as an essential core health service.

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    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.09.20.20198259: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board StatementIRB: Ethical consideration: The study was approved by the Ethical Review Board of Wollo University, research and community service vice president office and a cooperation letter was obtained from South Wollo health office and each respective hospital administrative office.
    Consent: Verbal consent was obtained from each study participants.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variableStudy Design and Period: Institution based cross sectional study design using mixed (quantitative supplemented with qualitative) method was employed to identify the impact of COVID-19 infection on maternal and reproductive health care services among women who get service in governmental health institutions of Dessie town.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    Finally, the data was taken to SPSS version 23.0 for the final analysis.
    SPSS
    suggested: (SPSS, RRID:SCR_002865)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  2. Version published to 10.1101/2020.09.20.20198259v1 on medRxiv