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Young people’s access to sexual and reproductive health prevention services in South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic: an online questionnaire
INTRODUCTION: The South African government responded swiftly to the first wave of novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) with a nationwide lockdown. Initial restrictions from March–July 2020 required people to stay at home unless accessing essential, life-saving services. We sought to understand how the COV...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
BMJ Publishing Group
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9884573/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36693683 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjpo-2022-001500 |
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author | Baker, Venetia Mulwa, Sarah Khanyile, David Sarrassat, Sophie O'Donnell, Dominique Piot, Sara Diogo, Yvonne Arnold, Georgia Cousens, Simon Cawood, Cherie Birdthistle, Isolde |
author_facet | Baker, Venetia Mulwa, Sarah Khanyile, David Sarrassat, Sophie O'Donnell, Dominique Piot, Sara Diogo, Yvonne Arnold, Georgia Cousens, Simon Cawood, Cherie Birdthistle, Isolde |
author_sort | Baker, Venetia |
collection | PubMed |
description | INTRODUCTION: The South African government responded swiftly to the first wave of novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) with a nationwide lockdown. Initial restrictions from March–July 2020 required people to stay at home unless accessing essential, life-saving services. We sought to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns affected young people’s access to sexual and reproductive health services in a high-prevalence HIV setting. METHODS: We analysed data from a cross-sectional web-based questionnaire conducted with 15–24 year-olds from September–December 2020 in Eastern Cape, South Africa. The questionnaire was promoted through social media platforms. Participants were asked whether and how the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions affected their access to sexual and reproductive health services, through closed-ended and open-ended questions. Descriptive statistics using proportions were used to summarise responses, and open text was analysed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Of 3431 respondents, the proportions reporting ‘more difficulty’ accessing HIV testing services, HIV self-screening kits, condoms, pre-exposure prophylaxis and antiretroviral treatment since the COVID-19 pandemic were 16.8%, 13.7%, 13.9%, 11% and 7%, respectively. In 796 open-text responses, participants described challenges accessing HIV services due to clinics being overwhelmed and prioritising patients with COVID-19, resulting in young people being turned away. Some were afraid of contracting COVID-19 at or en route to clinics. Others were unable to reach clinics because of restricted transport or financial insecurity. DISCUSSION: Young people in Eastern Cape rely on local clinics for services, and large proportions of young males and females faced difficulties or fears accessing clinics during the COVID-19 lockdown. Clinics became overwhelmed or inaccessible, limiting young people’s access to sexual and reproductive health services. In high HIV risk contexts, prevention services and tools must be more accessible to young people, outside of clinics and within the communities and spaces that young people can access without fear or cost. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9884573 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-98845732023-01-30 Young people’s access to sexual and reproductive health prevention services in South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic: an online questionnaire Baker, Venetia Mulwa, Sarah Khanyile, David Sarrassat, Sophie O'Donnell, Dominique Piot, Sara Diogo, Yvonne Arnold, Georgia Cousens, Simon Cawood, Cherie Birdthistle, Isolde BMJ Paediatr Open Adolescent Health INTRODUCTION: The South African government responded swiftly to the first wave of novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) with a nationwide lockdown. Initial restrictions from March–July 2020 required people to stay at home unless accessing essential, life-saving services. We sought to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns affected young people’s access to sexual and reproductive health services in a high-prevalence HIV setting. METHODS: We analysed data from a cross-sectional web-based questionnaire conducted with 15–24 year-olds from September–December 2020 in Eastern Cape, South Africa. The questionnaire was promoted through social media platforms. Participants were asked whether and how the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions affected their access to sexual and reproductive health services, through closed-ended and open-ended questions. Descriptive statistics using proportions were used to summarise responses, and open text was analysed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Of 3431 respondents, the proportions reporting ‘more difficulty’ accessing HIV testing services, HIV self-screening kits, condoms, pre-exposure prophylaxis and antiretroviral treatment since the COVID-19 pandemic were 16.8%, 13.7%, 13.9%, 11% and 7%, respectively. In 796 open-text responses, participants described challenges accessing HIV services due to clinics being overwhelmed and prioritising patients with COVID-19, resulting in young people being turned away. Some were afraid of contracting COVID-19 at or en route to clinics. Others were unable to reach clinics because of restricted transport or financial insecurity. DISCUSSION: Young people in Eastern Cape rely on local clinics for services, and large proportions of young males and females faced difficulties or fears accessing clinics during the COVID-19 lockdown. Clinics became overwhelmed or inaccessible, limiting young people’s access to sexual and reproductive health services. In high HIV risk contexts, prevention services and tools must be more accessible to young people, outside of clinics and within the communities and spaces that young people can access without fear or cost. BMJ Publishing Group 2023-01-24 /pmc/articles/PMC9884573/ /pubmed/36693683 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjpo-2022-001500 Text en © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) . |
spellingShingle | Adolescent Health Baker, Venetia Mulwa, Sarah Khanyile, David Sarrassat, Sophie O'Donnell, Dominique Piot, Sara Diogo, Yvonne Arnold, Georgia Cousens, Simon Cawood, Cherie Birdthistle, Isolde Young people’s access to sexual and reproductive health prevention services in South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic: an online questionnaire |
title | Young people’s access to sexual and reproductive health prevention services in South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic: an online questionnaire |
title_full | Young people’s access to sexual and reproductive health prevention services in South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic: an online questionnaire |
title_fullStr | Young people’s access to sexual and reproductive health prevention services in South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic: an online questionnaire |
title_full_unstemmed | Young people’s access to sexual and reproductive health prevention services in South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic: an online questionnaire |
title_short | Young people’s access to sexual and reproductive health prevention services in South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic: an online questionnaire |
title_sort | young people’s access to sexual and reproductive health prevention services in south africa during the covid-19 pandemic: an online questionnaire |
topic | Adolescent Health |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9884573/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36693683 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjpo-2022-001500 |
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