Unmet contraceptive needs and unintended pregnancies among adolescent girls amid COVID-19 in sub-Saharan Africa and the importance of accurate, reliable and real-time data

Abstract

COVID-19 in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has had a significant negative impact on issues such as the reproductive health of young girls. One of the consequences of the pandemic is a shortage of contraceptives and devices due to supply chain disruptions. The concern is that due to a lack of data, it is unclear how much these restrictions have impacted contraceptive use among youth from sub-Saharan Africa during COVID-19. Thousands of Kenyan schoolgirls have become pregnant due to the lockdown. It was recently reported from Gauteng, one of the South African provinces, that between April 2020 and March 2021 there were over 23,000 teenage pregnancies, with 934 girls aged 10 to 14 giving birth. This opinion piece aims to stimulate discussion on these issues while also addressing the issue of the importance of data for studying contraceptive use and teenage pregnancy in the face of hard-hit pandemics such as the COVID-19 pandemic in SSA.