Abstract
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed considerable operational challenges for public health systems to deliver COVID-19 response and maintain essential health services simultaneously. Low-resource countries were significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic because of weak health infrastructure, reduced health systems capacity and significant socio-economic inequalities. Objectives: This study aimed to explore the impact of COVID-19 on access, delivery and utilisation of essential primary health services in Region 4 of Guyana. Methods: An explanatory sequential study design was used to collect data on health services utilisation from 41 health centres in Region 4. The statistical data informed a semi-structured questionnaire to explore community and healthcare providers' perceptions of the COVID-19 pandemic and their experiences concerning access and delivery of primary health services during the COVID-19 pandemic in Guyana. The statistical data were analysed descriptively with SPSS version 20 software and by time series trend analysis. The qualitative data were descriptively analysed with SPSS software and by thematic analysis. Results and Discussion: An analysis of the statistical data showed a stable trend of essential health services utilisation from January 2018 – May 2019. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, there were significant decreases in utilising all essential health services across the 41 health centres of Region 4. Healthcare providers and community perspectives and experiences identified fear and anxiety among the common causes for decreased access to primary healthcare during the pandemic. Conclusions: This study confirmed that during the COVID-19 pandemic, access, delivery, and utilisation of essential health services were severely affected in the health centres of Region 4 in Guyana. COVID-19 pandemic, essential primary healthcare, health centres of Region 4 in Guyana.
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