Sexual and reproductive health of Syrian refugee women in Turkey: a scoping review within the framework of the MISP objectives

BACKGROUND: Turkey hosts the world’s largest community of Syrians displaced by the conflict. The Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP) is a coordinated set of priority reproductive health services. There is not any scoping review assessing the RH situation of Syrian refugees in Turkey within the framework of the MISP objectives. The objectives of this review is to identify the situation of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) among Syrian refugee women in Turkey, and document the health services provided for them in terms of the components of MISP. We hoped to show evidence of gaps and help guide future research to focus on priority areas to improve the range, quality, and access to SRH services and to recommend public health interventions. METHOD: The literature search was conducted in Turkish and English. Multiple electronic databases (Turkish Medline, Google Scholar, PubMed, Web of Science, Medline, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, EBSCOHost, CINAHL, and Embase) were searched from January 2011 to May 2018. References published in the peer-reviewed literature, the grey-literature, and on websites were eligible for inclusion if they had conducted research on one or more of the following SRH topics specifically for Syrian women in Turkey: maternal and neonatal health/antenatal care, HIV and sexually transmitted infections, use of contraceptives, sexual violence, and services delivery and accessibility. References were excluded if any of the following criteria were relevant: not specific to Syrian women refugees in Turkey. Firstly, the titles and abstracts of the articles that were found were examined to determine if they met the eligibility criteria. Secondly, if the abstracts and titles met one or more of the eligibility criteria, the full text of the articles have been examined. Finally, standard forms were prepared and used to summarize the articles narratively. The results of the screening were recorded in Excel spreadsheets for comparison, and any disagreements among the researchers were resolved by consensus. The studies were grouped according to the MISP objectives. RESULTS: A total of 24 publications were eligible for inclusion in the review. Consanguineous marriage rate was 56%. The rate of marriage under age 18 were very high. Mean age at first marriage was found to be between 18 and 20. The rate of antenatal care was inadequate. The rate of using a modern contraceptive method was 24% among married and all age groups of Syrian women. The rates of unmet family planning needs were about 35%. Among patients admitted to gynecology outpatient clinics, about half of the applicants were reported to have abnormal vaginal discharge. The reported rates of sexual violence were about 8%. Only 20% of Syrian women had regular gynecological visits. CONCLUSION: Overall, we conclude that early marriage, low modern contraceptive use, unmet need for contraception, sexual and gender-based violence are the major SRH issues reported. There is a need for further studies to identify the barriers limiting service uptake as well as to document successful practices. Long term strategies to improve the SRH status of Syrian refugee women should be developed with participation of all stakeholders. This review is significant in terms of that it is the first scoping review assessing the RH situation of Syrian refugees in Turkey within the framework of the MISP objectives. Based on the data of this review, relevant policy makers should consider to improve the SRH status of Syrian women refugees in Turkey.