Emerging democracies are handicapped by systemic weaknesses such as inadequate healthcare safety nets, weak administrative capacities, and rigidly hierarchical bureaucracies and conflicts between levels of political leadership. The COVID-19 pandemic creates the urgent need for governments to overcome these structural limitations and facilitate responsive governance. This article uses the lens of communicative governance to describe how governments respond to the emerging health emergency and its challenges. It uses the case of the state of Delhi in India to analyze how the tools of government were operated to govern during an escalating health crisis. It documents the unique policy and administrative practices that are driving the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the global South. In doing so, it points to the ways in which urban e-planning can foster transformative capacities to support local communities.

Disparities continue to exist in the timely provision of postpartum contraception. This study aimed to identify prevalence and factors associated with postpartum contraception provision among women enrolled in Medicaid. A retrospective cohort study was conducted using the 2014 National Medicaid data, linked to county-level social vulnerability index (SVI) data. Women aged 15–44 with a live birth in 2014 were included. Multivariable logistic regression was used to predict 3-day provision of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) and 60-day provision of most effective or moderately effective contraceptives (MMEC). Overall, 3-day LARC provision was 0.2% while 60-day MMEC was 36.3%. Significantly lower odds of receiving MMEC was found among women aged 15–20 (adjusted odds ratio[aOR] = 0.87; 95% CI:0.86–0.89) compared to women 20–44 years as well as among Asian women (aOR = 0.69; 95% CI:0.66–0.72) and Hispanic women (aOR = 0.73; 95% CI:0.72–0.75) compared to White women. The provision of postpartum contraception remains low, generally, and needs attention in communities experiencing poor maternal outcomes.

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