What's New

This operational guidance for South and South-East Asia and Pacific regions has been prepared to help countries prepare a continuity plan for maintaining good quality and equitable sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This document builds upon the previous Regional Guidance published on 17 April 2020, which provided high-level guidance to countries for continuing good quality and equitable sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health (SRMNCAH) services during the COVID-19 pandemic. It provides principles, strategic actions and a few examples of operational actions that countries have found useful for preparing plans to continue prioritized SRMNCAH services during the pandemic.

As this Technical Brief notes, studies to date do not show an increased risk of severe disease in late pregnancy or substantial risk to the newborn from COVID-19. But its impact on acute care services in settings with under-resourced health systems is likely to be substantial. The brief provides guidance on continuing to deliver a high level of antenatal care. 

The overarching aim of this guidance is to ensure maternity care providers can deliver respectful and individualised care services that promote the safety of women, babies, families and health professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Program is one of the principal sources of international data on fertility, family planning, maternal and child health, nutrition, mortality, environmental health, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and provision of health services. The DHS Spatial Analysis Reports supplement other DHS reports and respond to the increasing interest in a spatial perspective on demographic and health data. The principal objectives of all the DHS report series are to provide information for policy formulation at the international level and to examine individual country results in an international context.

This study presents findings from a further analysis of the follow-up to the 2017-18 Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (2017-18 PDHS). This report is a publication of The DHS Program, which is designed to collect, analyze, and disseminate data on fertility, family planning, maternal and child health, nutrition, and HIV/AIDS.

The Gender Alerts series highlights the disproportionate gender specific impacts of COVID-19 in Afghanistan, from the lack of services for survivors of violence to the challenges of building peace during a health crisis and a fast-paced rise in the burden of unpaid care work. The Gender Alerts offer a basis for an informed discussion on the impact of COVID-19 on women, girls and most marginalized groups. It provides recommendations for national and stakeholders through a unique combination of global and Afghan-led expertise and research. 

In Indonesia, women make up the majority of frontline healthcare professionals and community health workers. At home, women also play important roles as caregivers for children, the sick, and elderly members of their families. Plus, school closures mean that women have taken on an increased unpaid care burden while remaining one of the main contributors or sole breadwinners of their households. The brief focuses on UN Women Indonesia COVID-19 response to safeguarding and leveraging gains made on gender equality and women’s empowerment through policy advocacy and programming that incorporates a gender-transformative approach to recovery.

Women and girls in the Philippines are facing distinct challenges to their safety and well-being during COVID-19, such as access to healthcare services, gender-based violence and other human rights violations, and economic insecurity. While not all the impacts of COVID-19 are fully understood yet, it is evident that the gender and social inequalities that existed in the Philippines before the pandemic are now exacerbated. Our brief provides a snapshot of the issues facing women and girls in the Philippines during this crisis.

This programmatic brief explores how to expand HIV and STI prevention and contraceptive method options in contraceptive services and, thus, to reduce HIV and STI incidence among adolescent girls and women. It focuses on settings with extremely high HIV prevalence and incidence. This brief complements existing guidance on HIV prevention and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), amplifies calls for action and outlines more comprehensive approaches to integration of SRHR and HIV services. It also emphasizes the importance of SRHR for women living with HIV. It aligns with updated WHO recommendations for contraceptive eligibility for women at high risk of HIV and other HIV guidance for adolescent girls and young women.