How COVID-19 Related Isolation Measures Impacted Access to Selected Sexual and Reproductive Health Services in Georgia

Since December 31, 2019, the disease (COVID-19) caused by the novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)
has spread rapidly worldwide. On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared
a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, and on March 11 - a pandemic. The Georgian
Government has responded to the pandemic by restricting both internal and external travel. Social
distancing measures have been enforced to reduce spread within communities, and isolation has
been encouraged for the population except for necessary travel. Swift and expeditious preventive
and control measures taken by the Government of Georgia (GoG) contained the virus spread and
minimized death rates1. Despite this progress, the economic and social impacts of the pandemic
were challenging. COVID-19 pandemic has ushered in restrictive social measures that could each
have a profound influence on Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) and rights (SRHR). For this
purpose, GoG decided to assess the effectiveness of its pandemic response in February-June
2020, in order to understand how measures aimed at controlling the pandemic have affected the
access to essential healthcare services, including SRH, and make corrections where shortcomings
are identified.