Abstract

Introduction: As the pandemic continues, COVID‐19‐associated disruptions to healthcare services are likely to cause negative maternal and child health outcomes and disproportionally impact vulnerable populations in low-resource countries.

Objective: The present study undertakes a scoping review to assess how the COVID-19 pandemic affects the provision of maternal and child health care in low-resource countries. The overarching goals of the study were to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on community programs for maternal and child health, identify intended policies and recommendations for mitigating the impact, and understand gaps in knowledge to direct future actions.

Materials and Methods: Online databases were used to identify papers published from the onset of the pandemic on March 11, 2020, until December 20, 2020, from which we selected 16 publications describing the situation of maternal and child healthcare during the pandemic in low-resource countries, mainly from sub-Saharan and South Asian countries.

Results: There was a projected as well as calculated negative impact on maternal and child health programs in regards with access to care, routine childhood immunization, child nutrition, and antenatal and reproductive services in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). There were efforts to strengthen national-level policies to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on these programs and continue the benefits to the vulnerable population.

Conclusion: LMICs face a unique challenge in maintaining maternal and child health care services during the pandemic. The policies and recommendations from these countries should be based on local context with an intent not to de-prioritize non-COVID disease morbidity. Future efforts in the wake of any pandemic should be directed by background knowledge of the necessity to continue essential maternal and child services, improved integration of existing infrastructure, and the need for updated technology for faster data gathering.

Keywords: COVID-19; Child; Health Programs; Maternal; Low Resource Countries

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