Ensuring sexual and reproductive healthcare services amidst a pandemic: Experiences from health workers in Lima, Peru

PLOS Glob Public Health. 2024 Jun 28;4(6):e0003187. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0003187. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Nowadays there is an emerging interest on health system resilience capacity during emergencies as the one created by the COVID-19 Pandemic. This article contributes to this emerging field of studies by analysing the impact of the state´s policy responses COVID-19 (as lockdowns) on the Peruvian health system, specifically on the delivery of non-covid services, sexual and reproductive health services, and describe the strategies deployed by health workers to adapt to the COVID-19 crisis in Peru, a country that have been dramatically impacted by the pandemic. The article, based on the analysis of depth interviews with 11 health workers and one health supervisor working at sexual and reproductive health services at public health services Lima during 2020 and 2021, describe how pre-existing conditions of the health system (as poor infrastructure and deficit of human resources) magnified the negative effects of the measures taken to control de pandemic, undermining the "resilience" of the health system.

Grants and funding

Project funded to MAP by the HRP Alliance, part of the UNDP-UNFPA-UNICEF-WHO-World Bank Special Program for Research, Development and Research in Human Reproduction (HRP), a co-sponsored program run by the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO). This work was also supported by the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, Science Division of the World Health Organization, the Center for Perinatology, Women's Health and Reproduction (CLAP) of the Pan American Health Organization and the Center for Reproductive Health Research of Campinas (CEMICAMP), Brazil. These funds were received by Dr. Jaime Miranda and Dr. María Amalia Pesantes. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.