Introduction: During pandemics, there is uncertainty and information overload. Policymakers and health professionals prefer to use summarized evidence of practice recommendations. The aim of this scoping review is therefore to identify available guidelines, consensus statements, the standard of practice and practice recommendations on reproductive health service provision during the COVID-19 pandemics. Methods: We searched guideline databases and websites of professional associations and international organizations working on sexual and reproductive health. We looked for guidelines, protocols, consensus statements and practice recommendations on sexual reproductive health services (SRH) during COVID-19 pandemics. Additionally, we searched: MEDLINE, EMBASE and Google Scholar. Data extraction was done by two independent reviewers using a customized tool that was developed to record the key information of the source that's relevant to the review question. The difference between the two authors on data extraction was resolved by discussion. Results: A total of 20 records were included in the review. Identified recommendations were classified into thematic areas. The records addressed approaches to the antenatal care, labour and delivery, postnatal care, safe abortion, contraception, gender-based violence and artificial reproduction. We haven't employed any of the quality assessment tools as the pandemic is new clinical entity and evidences are based on expert opinion and limited clinical evidence. Conclusions: There were consistent consensus statements and recommendations that there should be access to sexual and reproductive health services like antenatal care(ANC), postnatal care(PNC), contraception service, safe abortion care and clinical management of rape survivors during the COVID-19 pandemics with the concerted effort of service reorganization. The practice recommendations focus on innovative ways of service provision to minimize patient and staff exposure to COVID-19 as well as alleviate the burden on the health care system. These include utilizing telemedicine or digital health and community/home-based care or self-care.
To ensure a systematic review is valuable to users, authors should prepare a transparent, complete, and accurate account of why the review was done, what they did, and what they found The PRISMA 2020 statement provides updated reporting guidance for systematic reviews that reflects advances in methods to identify, select, appraise, and synthesise studiesThe PRISMA 2020 statement consists of a 27-item checklist, an expanded checklist that details reporting recommendations for each item, the PRISMA 2020 abstract checklist, and revised flow diagrams for original and updated reviews We anticipate that the PRISMA 2020 statement will benefit authors, editors, and peer reviewers of systematic reviews, and different users of reviews, including guideline developers, policy makers, healthcare providers, patients, and other stakeholders on 15 April 2021 by guest. Protected by copyright.
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