Adolescents Uptake of Family Planning Services during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the world and left significant effects on lives, health, economy and society. Existing records point to how previous pandemics significantly impacted adolescent sexual and reproductive health. This study examined the effects of COVID-19 on the utilization of family planning services among adolescents in Tamale Metropolis. An analytical cross-sectional design with a quantitative research approach was employed. A total of 286 participants were randomly sampled for the study. From the results, 62.8% were aware of family planning services that targeted adolescents, however, 37.0% did not know where adolescent-friendly family planning services were provided. Patronage of family planning services was slow as evidenced by the 31.8% prevalence of family planning method usage and 27.8% regular users of family planning services before the COVID-19 pandemic, and got worse during the pandemic. Most of the adolescents in this study were unable to access family planning services during the COVID-19 period. It also emerged that 19% of the participants were denied family planning services during the pandemic. Adolescents had a high unmet need for family planning before the COVID-19 pandemic. This situation was worsened due to the effects of the pandemic. The use of technology including the use of social media, mobile apps, helplines, WhatsApp groups, and hotlines was recommended to solve the issue of inaccessibility and unavailability of family planning services and community distribution of contraceptives to check the unavailability of contraceptives during pandemics.