The impact of COVID-19 on the provision of respectful maternity care: Findings from a global survey of health workers

The United Kingdom and the Netherlands maternity care responses to COVID-19: a comparative study

“…One of the main findings of this study is that the focus on infection control significantly restricted the choices and rights of women and their partners/families over the perinatal period in order to achieve the lowest possible risk of infection [8,13]. Restricting women's rights in an attempt to prevent risk, with little attention paid to the short and long-term effects on women's psychological wellbeing, has been argued to generate greater harm than benefit [14,15]. For example, it appears that separation of parents and newborns may have negatively influenced breastfeeding success, with negative emotional and health implications [16][17][18].…”

Transdisciplinary Imagination: Addressing Equity and Mistreatment in Perinatal Care

“…Ample evidence exists that during the COVID-19 pandemic, delivery of high-quality maternity services has been severely disrupted (Abdelbadee & Abbas, 2020 ; Asefa et al, 2021 ; Jardine et al, 2020 ; Rochelson et al, 2020 ). The potential for inequitable exacerbation of poor perinatal and maternal outcomes and human rights violations, due to pandemic conditions is immense (Stein et al, 2020).…”

“…The potential for inequitable exacerbation of poor perinatal and maternal outcomes and human rights violations, due to pandemic conditions is immense (Stein et al, 2020). Across the globe, women and community health workers have reported increased mistreatment by care providers, denial of admission to facilities, separation from their babies, unwanted interventions, and lack of access to antenatal and postpartum care (Asefa et al, 2021 ; Reingold et al, 2020 ). Labouring women have been refused admission when presenting with symptoms of heavy breathing, and have died because of delays travelling to facilities due to fears of police brutality during overnight curfews (Shikha, 2020; KTN News, 2020).…”

“…Societal responses at the intersections of maternity care and COVID-19 offers both critical human rights lessons and valuable alternatives for service delivery. However, frontline health workers, and service users in low-resource and disenfranchised communities, report inability to access reliable information, guidelines, and training to implement these safer strategies (Asefa et al, 2021 ). Many are forced to rely on the information and misinformation shared via social and other media.…”

Indonesian midwives’ perspectives on changes in the provision of maternity care during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study

“…Although COVID-19 public health control and prevention measures justify some changes to care provision, many have significantly impacted women's experiences of care, and the outcomes for themselves and their babies. Many women are having pregnancy care ( Panda et al, 2021 ; Sweet et al, 2021a ) and going through labour and birth alone ( Asefa et al, 2021 ) which can have profound impacts on feelings of isolation for women, potential for mistreatment during birth, and negative childbirth experience and outcomes. Ensuring quality of maternity care during the COVID-19 pandemic is crucial to maintain women's rights, and more work is needed to assess how COVID-19 has impacted on the provision of care.…”