AKU’s community health sciences and nursing faculty in Pakistan are contributing to two multi-country studies that will shed light on the impact of COVID-19 on pregnant women and their babies and inform efforts to meet the sexual and reproductive health needs of women during the pandemic. The studies will also provide evidence on the level of protection that vaccination against the virus provides to pregnant women.
The two studies will be carried out in 12 countries, including Pakistan, under the auspices of the Human Reproduction Programme (HRP), a joint project of the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank and multiple United Nations agencies. HRP coordinates and builds capacity to conduct research in sexual and reproductive health around the world. As the HRP Alliance Hub for the Eastern Mediterranean region, AKU will lead the studies in Pakistan. The University will also support participating institutions in other countries by sharing data, guidelines and standard operating procedures.
The first study will compare pregnant women infected with SARS-CoV-2 to pregnant women not infected with the virus, assessing their health and that of their babies. The second study will examine the ability of health systems to provide sexual and reproductive health services during the pandemic.
In Pakistan, the first study will enroll 3,000 pregnant women from AKU hospitals and four large tertiary public hospitals in three provinces. Vaccinated and unvaccinated women will be included. Researchers will track their health until six weeks after birth and will collect samples of breast milk and other bodily fluids. Among other things, this will generate evidence on whether COVID-19 can be transmitted during pregnancy from a mother to a foetus.
The second study will survey nine rural and urban health facilities across Sindh province. Faculty will use the WHO’s Service Availability and Readiness Assessment tool to evaluate whether the facilities have the infrastructure, human resources and equipment to meet women’s health needs. They will also conduct more than 100 interviews and conduct 18 focus groups with women, their partners and health care providers to understand barriers to accessing care and to evaluate how the pandemic has impacted women’s mental health, contraceptive use and personal autonomy.
“Access to family planning saves lives and has a great impact on women’s economic empowerment and mental well-being,” said Professor Rozina Karmaliani, co-principal investigator and Dean of the School of Nursing and Midwifery. “Our goal is to boost the resilience of the health care system and to promote men’s awareness and engagement in family planning and in women’s health care issues. Since men have been identified as crucial in decision-making in families, changing their mindsets can help to bring about the positive impact we wish to