Perspectives of professionals and human rights associations on the IMAgiNE EURO study

Abstract

The year 2020 will be remembered around the globe as the time when our lives, our health systems, and our worlds turned on end.Warnings about the risks of pandemics, especially the lack of preparedness for a pandemic, had circulated since the emergence of MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) and SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome). However, no country, no health system, nor the World Health Organization, to say nothing of our hospitals, was prepared for what 2020-2022 brought us. The articles in this Supplement. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] chronicle the risk of pregnancy during COVID-19, particularly the vulnerability of women giving birth during a pandemic.Globally, we now understand the serious vulnerability and risk of complications women face when they develop COVID-19 during pregnancy, from the risk of stillbirth and placentitis, to the risks of respiratory distress, need for intensive care, and for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in pregnancy. [11][12][13] We also now appreciate, two years after the pandemic, the importance of vaccination and disinformation. However, the articles in this Supplement take us back to the beginning-when the care for a mother and family came secondary to the fear of COVID-19-and provide a maternal perspective on the quality of care delivered.The articles originate from a multicountry survey on maternal and newborn health service preparedness, quality, and resilience during the pandemic, and they help us to understand the choices made.Choices that sacrificed communication, shared decision-making, and respect. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the health and well-being of populations. Pregnancy places women at