Impact of coronavirus 19 pandemic on contraception in Jordan

Abstract

The coronavirus 19 (COVID-19) pandemic has negatively impacted family planning services worldwide. There are no published reports from Jordan on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on family planning methods. This was a web-based cross-sectional study between September and December 2020 with 519 participants; of these 43.5% did not use any method. The most used methods were intrauterine devices, coitus interruptus and male condoms. Furthermore, 38.2% of women changed methods due to limited access to services and non-availability of methods. While 82.1% of women preferred modern methods before the pandemic, 79.7% became more acceptant of traditional methods. Moreover, 35.3% of women got pregnant during the curfew, and 90% were unplanned with a statistically significant higher rate in women who changed their routine method, accepted traditional methods, have been married for less than 10 years and multiparous women. National health policy makers should consider the impact of large-scale pandemics on family planning services. IMPACT STATEMENT What is already known on this subject? Family planning services in Jordan have improved significantly over the last decade because of accessibility and availability of a wide range of contraceptive methods. Available methods are either traditional or modern. Because of the high failure rates of traditional methods, public health family planning programmes promote modern methods. What do the results of this study add? There are no published reports from Jordan on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic and curfew on family planning methods. This study aims to report on what family planning methods women used during the pandemic, reporting if women changed their preferred methods and the reasons, assess women's knowledge about the natural methods of family planning which is probably an alternative method in situations where services and accessibility to more effective methods are limited and estimate unplanned pregnancies. What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? National health policy makers should consider the impact of large-scale pandemics on family planning services. Additionally, the implementation of telehealth and home delivery of self-administered methods should be considered. Natural methods of contraception may be an option when access and availability to modern methods is limited.