AccScience Publishing / IJPS / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/ijps.2354
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RESEARCH ARTICLE

COVID-19 and access to sexual and reproductive health services: Perspectives from adolescents and women in rural areas of Enugu State, Nigeria

Ugochukwu Simeon Asogwa1* Nneka Ifeoma Okafor2 Chukwuedozie K. Ajaero3,4
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1 Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu, Nigeria
2 UNESCO Multisectoral Regional Office, Abuja, Nigeria
3 Department of Geography, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu, Nigeria
4 Demography and Population Studies Programme, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
IJPS 2024, 10(1), 58–67; https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.2354
Submitted: 19 December 2022 | Accepted: 1 December 2023 | Published: 27 December 2023
© 2023 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has a far-reaching effect on human activities and relationships, especially on sexual and reproductive health (SRH). The pandemic exposed the unpreparedness of the governments of many nations to respond to the longstanding health needs of the people. Adopting a qualitative research design, this study examined access to quality and affordable SRH in Enugu stat, Nigeria, during COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings revealed that SRH products were not easily accessible due to the prolonged lockdowns attributed to the pandemic. Adolescents and women were discouraged from procuring and accessing SRH services due to artificially induced high prices of the products and the added feeling of nosocomephobia which kept people away from medical centers. More effort is needed by government and non-governmental organizations to strengthen access to SRH products in Nigeria, especially during pandemic.

Keywords
COVID-19
Reproductive health
Access
Availability
Adolescent
Funding
None.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
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International Journal of Population Studies, Electronic ISSN: 2424-8606 Print ISSN: 2424-8150, Published by AccScience Publishing