Developing Countries: Genito-urinary medicine

(asked on 27th April 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment she has made of the effect of the covid-19 pandemic on the provision of sexual and reproductive health services in lower income countries; and which international NGOs she is working with to minimise the effect on those services.


Answered by
Wendy Morton Portrait
Wendy Morton
This question was answered on 4th May 2020

Evidence shows that women and girls’ sexual and reproductive rights (SRHR) are under pressure as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Guttmacher Institute has estimated that a 10% decline in reproductive, maternal, new-born and child health services over the course of a year in low and low-middle income countries could lead to 49 million women with an unmet need for contraceptives and 15 million unintended pregnancies. We are tracking this and other assessments as they emerge, and are in frequent touch with our NGO and UN partners in countries to monitor the constraints and the barriers women, girls and marginalised groups may be facing as a direct or indirect impact of COVID-19.

UK leadership on sexual and reproductive health and rights is needed now more than ever. We will continue to be a progressive voice internationally on this issue, and work with our partners through the crisis so they can continue to provide SRHR services and ensure that every woman and girl can continue to realise her right to choose. For example, ‘WISH’, our regional women’s sexual & reproductive health programme, operates in 27 countries around the world, working with partners Marie Stopes International and the International Planned Parenthood Foundation. WISH is finding innovative ways to keep delivering desperately-needed services and supplies during COVID-19, while also supporting efforts to stop the spread of the disease.

Reticulating Splines