Abstract
Background: Battling with COVID-19 and providing essential services along the continuum of care could be challenging. This study will evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on utilization of maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) services in Nigeria and explore the barriers being experienced by women and their families in getting access to MNCH services, as well as other contextual factors that may have shaped the utilization of MNCH services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods and analysis: The study will adopt an observational mixed-methods study design involving 18 health care facilities delivering MNCH services in six selected states across six geopolitical zones of Nigeria. We will retrieve longitudinal data on MNCH services from all selected hospitals six months before and after the first recorded case of COVID-19 in Nigeria. Qualitative data will be collected using in-depth interviews conducted via mobile phones or ZOOM meeting platforms among stakeholder participants (users of MNCH services, health workers and policymakers) to ascertain their perceptions on how COVID-19 has shaped the utilization of MNCH services. We will triangulate quantitative and qualitative data to better understand the impact of COVID-19 on the utilization of MNCH services in Nigeria. Ethics and dissemination: Ethics approvals have been obtained from the Health Research Ethics Committee of the tertiary hospitals involved in the study.Our findings will provide the first evidence from an African setting on the impact of COVID-19 on the utilization of MNCH services using a mixed-methods study design for policy formulation towards sustained MNCH service delivery.
Highlights
Introduction1. Maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) - What of the period of infancy?
The maternal mortality ratio in Nigeria is 512 per 100,000 live births and some of the main causes of maternal deaths include obstetric haemorrhage, infection, obstructed labour, unsafe abortion, preeclampsia/ eclampsia, malaria, anaemia, and contributory factors such as lack of awareness about complications in pregnancy, inability to seek timely medical intervention, lack of utilization of health care services, lack of transportation and inability to pay for services[4,5]
The quantitative part of the study will involve the collection of longitudinal data on maternal and newborn health services, while the qualitative component will explore the barriers being experienced by women and their families in getting access to MNCH services as well as other contextual factors that may have shaped the utilization of MNCH services during the COVID-19 pandemic
Summary
1. Maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) - What of the period of infancy? 2. Paragraph 3, line 13; The sentence, 'Even though the majority of maternal and neonatal deaths occur in the postpartum period in Nigeria, only about 42% of mothers....' is contentious. This study will evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on utilization of maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) services in Nigeria and explore the barriers being experienced by women and their families in getting access to MNCH services, as well as other contextual factors that may have shaped the utilization of MNCH services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods and analysis: The study will adopt an observational mixedmethods study design involving 18 health care facilities delivering MNCH services in six selected states across six geopolitical zones of Nigeria. We will retrieve longitudinal data on MNCH services from all selected hospitals six months before and after the first recorded case of COVID-19 in Nigeria. We will triangulate quantitative and qualitative data to better understand the version 2
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