You are here

COVID-19 pandemic severely threatens women's health as health systems become overloaded, facilities close or only provide a limited set of services to women and girls, and many choose to skip important medical checkups through fear of contracting the virus. Global supply chain disruptions may also lead to significant shortages of contraceptives and gender-based violence is expected to soar as women are trapped at home for prolonged periods.

Key projections include an elevated number of gender-based violence cases against women, increase in the number of women who cannot access modern contraceptive methods which lead to unintented pregnancies, disruption of efforts to end child marriage potentially ending up with millions of new child marriage cases and disruption of programmes to prevent female genital mutilation.