Impact of the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Coverage of Reproductive, Maternal, and Newborn Health Interventions in Ethiopia: A Natural Experiment

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Study Justification:
The study aims to assess the impact of the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic on the coverage of reproductive, maternal, and newborn health (RMNH) interventions in Ethiopia. The justification for this study is to understand how the pandemic and response measures may have disrupted access and use of RMNH services, and to inform policy and decision-making regarding the continuity and strengthening of essential health services.
Highlights:
– The study used panel survey data from PMA-Ethiopia to compare the odds of service receipt, coverage of RMNH service indicators, and health outcomes between women who gave birth prior to the pandemic and those affected by COVID-19.
– The findings show little disruption of RMNH services in Ethiopia in the initial months of the pandemic.
– There were no significant reductions in women seeking health services or the content of services they received for preventative or curative interventions.
– In rural areas, a greater proportion of women in the COVID-19 affected cohort sought care for peripartum complications, antenatal care (ANC), postnatal care (PNC), and care for sick newborns.
– Significant reductions in coverage of BCG vaccination and chlorohexidine use were observed in urban areas in the COVID-19 affected cohort.
– An increased proportion of women in Addis Ababa reported postpartum family planning in the COVID-19 affected cohort.
– The data suggest increased stillbirths in the COVID-19 affected cohort, despite the lack of evidence of reduced health services.
Recommendations:
– The government of Ethiopia’s response to control the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure continuity of essential health services appears to have successfully averted most negative impacts on maternal and neonatal care.
– Continued efforts are needed to ensure that essential health services are maintained and even strengthened to prevent indirect loss of life.
Key Role Players:
– Government of Ethiopia: Responsible for implementing and coordinating policies and programs related to reproductive, maternal, and newborn health.
– Ministry of Health: Provides leadership and oversight in the delivery of health services, including RMNH interventions.
– Health facilities and healthcare providers: Responsible for delivering RMNH services and implementing recommended interventions.
– Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and international partners: Provide support and resources for RMNH programs and interventions.
Cost Items for Planning Recommendations:
– Training and capacity building for healthcare providers on RMNH interventions.
– Procurement and distribution of essential medicines and supplies.
– Infrastructure and equipment upgrades in health facilities.
– Information, education, and communication campaigns to promote RMNH services.
– Monitoring and evaluation activities to assess the impact of interventions.
– Research and data collection to inform evidence-based decision-making.
Please note that the provided information is based on the description and findings of the study. For more detailed information, it is recommended to refer to the publication “Impact of the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Coverage of Reproductive, Maternal, and Newborn Health Interventions in Ethiopia: A Natural Experiment” in Frontiers in Public Health, Volume 10, Year 2022.

The strength of evidence for this abstract is 7 out of 10.
The evidence in the abstract is relatively strong, but there are some limitations. The study used panel survey data from PMA-Ethiopia, which provides a good sample size and allows for comparisons between pre-pandemic and pandemic-affected cohorts. The study found little disruption of reproductive, maternal, and newborn health services in Ethiopia in the early stages of the pandemic. However, there were some significant reductions in coverage of certain interventions in urban areas. The data suggest increased stillbirths in the COVID-19 affected cohort. To improve the evidence, it would be beneficial to include a larger sample size and conduct a longer-term follow-up to capture the later effects of the pandemic. Additionally, addressing potential biases in recall accuracy and adjusting for other confounding factors would strengthen the findings.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and response have the potential to disrupt access and use of reproductive, maternal, and newborn health (RMNH) services. Numerous initiatives aim to gauge the indirect impact of COVID-19 on RMNH. Methods: We assessed the impact of COVID-19 on RMNH coverage in the early stages of the pandemic using panel survey data from PMA-Ethiopia. Enrolled pregnant women were surveyed 6-weeks post-birth. We compared the odds of service receipt, coverage of RMNCH service indicators, and health outcomes within the cohort of women who gave birth prior to the pandemic and the COVID-19 affected cohort. We calculated impacts nationally and by urbanicity. Results: This dataset shows little disruption of RMNH services in Ethiopia in the initial months of the pandemic. There were no significant reductions in women seeking health services or the content of services they received for either preventative or curative interventions. In rural areas, a greater proportion of women in the COVID-19 affected cohort sought care for peripartum complications, ANC, PNC, and care for sick newborns. Significant reductions in coverage of BCG vaccination and chlorohexidine use in urban areas were observed in the COVID-19 affected cohort. An increased proportion of women in Addis Ababa reported postpartum family planning in the COVID-19 affected cohort. Despite the lack of evidence of reduced health services, the data suggest increased stillbirths in the COVID-19 affected cohort. Discussion: The government of Ethiopia’s response to control the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure continuity of essential health services appears to have successfully averted most negative impacts on maternal and neonatal care. This analysis cannot address the later effects of the pandemic and may not capture more acute or geographically isolated reductions in coverage. Continued efforts are needed to ensure that essential health services are maintained and even strengthened to prevent indirect loss of life.

Data for this study come from the Performance Monitoring for Action (PMA) Ethiopia survey, a survey project comprised of an annual nationally representative cross-sectional survey, a panel survey following women from pregnancy through 1 year postpartum, and an annual Service Delivery Point (SDP) survey. The data for this analysis come from the panel survey. PMA Ethiopia is conducted in collaboration between Addis Ababa University and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. PMA Ethiopia panel survey used multistage cluster sampling using probability proportional to size to select 217 enumeration areas (EAs) across six regions in Ethiopia, with region (Afar, Addis Ababa, Amhara, Oromia, Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples, and Tigray) and residence (urban/rural) as strata. In Afar and Addis Ababa, only region was used for stratification. To identify women for the panel survey, a census was conducted among 36,614 households between October and November 2019. All women aged 15–49 were screened [32,792] and, if they reported being currently pregnant or having delivered within the past 6 weeks, were eligible for the panel study. In total, 2,889 women were identified as eligible and 2,855 enrolled to complete interviews at enrollment, 6 weeks, 6 months, and 1 year postpartum (Figure 1). Data used in this paper were reported at the 6-week interview, which had a follow-up rate of 93.3%. Study cohort diagram. *Women who were pregnant or 0–4 weeks postpartum at the time of the first panel interview received survey questions related to maternal care services they received up to the time of interview. Estimated or actual delivery dates of women were used to schedule a second interview, which was conducted when respondents were about 6 weeks postpartum. Some 6-weeks postpartum interviews were conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic; others were conducted during the COVID pandemic. PMA survey interview questions slightly for interviews conducted during the COVID pandemic. **Women who were 5–9 weeks postpartum at the time of the first panel interview received a combined set of survey questions that other women received during two separate interviews. All of these interviews were conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic. PMA Ethiopia paused data collection in early April due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, questionnaires were modified to include a range of questions about COVID-19 knowledge and risk and the role of COVID-19 in care-seeking behaviors for MNH. When data collection resumed in June with enhanced safety protocols, including social distancing, COVID-19 symptom screening, and mandatory mask requirements, all women with outstanding surveys were interviewed using the updated questionnaires. As a sub-cohort of women had delivered prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and a sub-cohort delivered during the COVID-19 pandemic, a “natural experiment” within the PMA Ethiopia cohort was introduced, providing a unique opportunity to apply a pre-post cross-sectional study design to examine the early impact of COVID-19 on the coverage of peripartum care indicators. Women provided oral consent to participate at the initial household screening and prior to enrollment in the panel survey for all eligible women. All procedures were approved by both the Addis Ababa University [075/13/SPH] and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health [00009391] Institutional Review Boards. Additional information on the PMA Ethiopia survey can be found at Zimmerman (17). Restrictions to curb the spread of COVID-19 were introduced in Ethiopia between last March and early April, with some variation in date of introduction by regional states. In addition to structural disruptions, we assume this time also aligns with an increased public awareness of the potential threat of COVID-19. Translating this period of restriction into potential impact on health service access and use in the PMA cohort, we assume those women who gave birth in April or later could experience disruptions to late-ANC visits, care offered during childbirth, and services delivered in the first month after birth. If restrictions did impact service availability, we expect it would immediately affect labor and delivery care. Impact on ANC would be tempered due to repeat service visits throughout the pregnancy. For births that occurred in May 2020, disruption to antenatal service would translate to potential loss of the final pre-birth visit under a four-visit ANC schedule. Care delivered in the neonatal period could also have been impacted in births occurring as early as March 2020. In defining the appropriate COVID-19 affected and unaffected groups, we also considered the comparability of recall periods. Due to a pause in six-week post-birth follow-up interviews in April and May, births between February and April received follow-up interviews up to 25 weeks after birth (Supplementary Figure 1). This delay in follow-up could result in lower recall accuracy across indicators and significant bias in indicators with reference periods tied to the timing of interview administration (e.g., current breastfeeding or family planning use) or time between birth and interview (e.g., care-seeking for illness in newborn since birth). For our primary analysis, we defined our COVID-19 affected cohort as those born in May 2020 (average recall period: 9.4 weeks) or later and our COVID-19 unaffected cohort as births between August 2019 (start of post-birth data collection) and January 2020 (average recall period: 6.8 weeks). Births that occurred between February and April 2020 were excluded. We conducted a sensitivity analysis of indicators with a time-invariant reference period more loosely defining the unaffected cohort as August 2019 to February 2020 births (average recall period: 8.6 weeks) and the COVID-19 affected cohort as births in April 2020 or later (average recall period: 12.0 weeks). For indicators with unrestricted reference periods, therefore most susceptible to bias due to differences in recall period (i.e., vaccination, exclusive breastfeeding, care-seeking for infant illness, and postpartum family planning), we restricted the comparison of cohorts to only follow-up interviews that occurred more than five weeks and <10 weeks after birth (mean recall period COVID-19 unaffected cohort: 6.7 weeks; COVID-19 affected cohort: 7.9 weeks). We examined the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and response on health interventions in the peripartum period. The PMA Ethiopia six-week postpartum questionnaire collected data on standard indicators of health practices and interventions during antenatal care, childbirth, and the neonatal period. Where an intervention could only be received through contact with the formal health system (e.g., blood transfusion) we report the indicator as the proportion of the population delivering at a facility that received the intervention. These indicators serve to assess changes in the content (and potentially quality) of service administered during the time period. Indicators of service contact (e.g., facility delivery) are calculated as a proportion of the total target population and demonstrate potential changes in both care-seeking behaviors and service access. Interventions or practices that can be accessed through multiple healthcare channels or do not require engagement with the healthcare system are similarly presented as coverage indicators among the total target population. To assess the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and response on health practices, services, and outcomes, we compared these indicators in our COVID-19 affected cohort vs. our unaffected reference cohort. The primary analysis estimated the odds ratio of intervention receipt or practice (yes/no) for those in the COVID-19 affected cohort compared to the reference cohort using logistic regression adjusting for survey weights. We calculated the association at the national level, with and without adjusting for characteristics of the mother and birth. The adjusted regression assessed the cohort effect after accounting for variations in parity (first birth, 1-2 previous births, 3+ births), maternal education (none, attended primary, attended secondary or higher), maternal age, household wealth (relative quintile), urban vs. rural residence, and regional state. We also looked at associations between cohorts residing in Addis Ababa, other urban areas, and rural areas separately, with and without adjusting for covariates. We posited restrictions and COVID burden might have a greater impact in population centers that are more dependent on public transport, more vulnerable to economic shocks, and more susceptible to COVID-19 transmission. We also calculated the unadjusted coverage of each intervention or practice in both the COVID-19 affected and unaffected cohorts. We also compared the incidence of stillbirth and neonatal death in the two cohorts using Poisson regression. To account for potential left truncation of our data due to the absence of early stillbirths among women enrolled late in pregnancy, we restricted our stillbirth analysis to only those enrolled in either their first or second trimester of pregnancy.

Based on the provided information, it appears that the study focused on assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on reproductive, maternal, and newborn health (RMNH) services in Ethiopia. The study used panel survey data from PMA-Ethiopia to compare the odds of service receipt, coverage of RMNCH service indicators, and health outcomes between the cohort of women who gave birth prior to the pandemic and the COVID-19 affected cohort.

The study found that there was little disruption of RMNH services in Ethiopia in the initial months of the pandemic. There were no significant reductions in women seeking health services or the content of services they received for either preventative or curative interventions. However, there were some variations observed in different regions and urban/rural areas. In rural areas, a greater proportion of women in the COVID-19 affected cohort sought care for peripartum complications, antenatal care (ANC), postnatal care (PNC), and care for sick newborns. In urban areas, there were significant reductions in coverage of BCG vaccination and chlorhexidine use in the COVID-19 affected cohort. However, an increased proportion of women in Addis Ababa reported postpartum family planning in the COVID-19 affected cohort. The data also suggested increased stillbirths in the COVID-19 affected cohort.

Overall, the study concluded that the government of Ethiopia’s response to control the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure continuity of essential health services appeared to have successfully averted most negative impacts on maternal and neonatal care. However, the study acknowledged that it couldn’t address the later effects of the pandemic and may not capture more acute or geographically isolated reductions in coverage.

It’s important to note that the study focused on assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic specifically. If you’re looking for innovations to improve access to maternal health in general, it would be helpful to explore other sources or studies that specifically address innovations in maternal health services.
AI Innovations Description
Based on the provided description, the recommendation to improve access to maternal health is to continue and strengthen the government’s response to control the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure the continuity of essential health services. The analysis of the impact of the early stages of the pandemic on reproductive, maternal, and newborn health (RMNH) services in Ethiopia showed little disruption in RMNH services. However, there were some reductions in coverage of certain indicators in urban areas, such as BCG vaccination and chlorohexidine use. To prevent indirect loss of life and further improve access to maternal health, the following actions can be taken:

1. Strengthen healthcare infrastructure: Ensure that healthcare facilities have the necessary resources, equipment, and trained healthcare professionals to provide quality maternal health services.

2. Increase awareness and education: Conduct public awareness campaigns to educate pregnant women and their families about the importance of seeking timely and appropriate maternal health services, even during the pandemic.

3. Expand telehealth services: Implement and promote telehealth services to provide remote consultations, counseling, and support for pregnant women, reducing the need for in-person visits and minimizing the risk of exposure to COVID-19.

4. Improve transportation and logistics: Address transportation challenges in rural areas to ensure that pregnant women can easily access healthcare facilities for antenatal care, delivery, and postnatal care.

5. Enhance community-based care: Strengthen community-based healthcare programs to provide essential maternal health services, including antenatal care, postnatal care, and family planning, closer to women’s homes.

6. Ensure availability of essential supplies: Maintain a steady supply of essential maternal health commodities, including contraceptives, vaccines, and medications, to meet the increased demand during the pandemic.

7. Monitor and evaluate the impact: Continuously monitor and evaluate the impact of the pandemic on maternal health services to identify any emerging challenges and adapt strategies accordingly.

By implementing these recommendations, it is possible to improve access to maternal health services and mitigate the potential negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on maternal and neonatal care in Ethiopia.
AI Innovations Methodology
Based on the provided information, here are some potential recommendations to improve access to maternal health:

1. Strengthen Telehealth Services: Implement and expand telehealth services to provide remote consultations, prenatal care, and postpartum support. This can help overcome barriers to accessing healthcare, especially in rural or remote areas.

2. Mobile Clinics: Utilize mobile clinics to reach underserved communities and provide essential maternal health services, including prenatal care, vaccinations, and postpartum check-ups. This can help overcome transportation and geographical challenges.

3. Community Health Workers: Train and deploy community health workers to provide maternal health education, screenings, and referrals in local communities. They can play a crucial role in improving access to care, especially in areas with limited healthcare facilities.

4. Maternal Health Vouchers: Implement a voucher system to provide financial assistance for maternal health services, including prenatal care, delivery, and postpartum care. This can help reduce financial barriers and increase access to quality care.

To simulate the impact of these recommendations on improving access to maternal health, you can follow these steps:

1. Define the baseline: Collect data on the current access to maternal health services, including the number of women receiving prenatal care, deliveries attended by skilled birth attendants, postpartum check-ups, and other relevant indicators.

2. Introduce the recommendations: Simulate the implementation of the recommendations by estimating the potential increase in access to maternal health services. This can be done by considering factors such as the number of telehealth consultations, the coverage of mobile clinics, the number of community health workers deployed, and the utilization of maternal health vouchers.

3. Estimate the impact: Calculate the projected impact of the recommendations on improving access to maternal health services. This can be done by comparing the baseline data with the simulated data, taking into account the population size, geographical distribution, and other relevant factors.

4. Analyze the results: Evaluate the impact of the recommendations on key indicators, such as the increase in the number of women receiving prenatal care, the percentage of deliveries attended by skilled birth attendants, and the improvement in postpartum care coverage. Assess the effectiveness of each recommendation and identify any potential challenges or limitations.

5. Refine and adjust: Based on the analysis, refine the recommendations and adjust the simulation model if needed. Consider additional factors, such as the availability of healthcare resources, infrastructure, and cultural considerations, to ensure the recommendations are feasible and effective in the specific context.

By following this methodology, you can simulate the potential impact of the recommendations on improving access to maternal health and make informed decisions on implementing the most effective strategies.

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