Access to sexual and reproductive health services for women and girls in humanitarian settings in Sub-Saharan Africa: A scoping review.

Abstract

Background: Many refugees and internally displaced women and girls worldwide face challenges related to their Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), which significantly contributes to poor health outcomes. This is due to limited provision of sexual and reproductive health services (SRHS)during humanitarian crises which makes these women and girls more vulnerable to poor health outcomes. The focus of this research is on women and girls in humanitarian settings in Sub-Saharan Africa as it hosts the largest number of refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) globally. This study aimed to identify what is known about the challenges in accessing SRHS for women and girls in humanitarian settings in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Methods: A scoping review was conducted to map the available literature on the topic by creating a search strategy with specific search terms and identifying relevant studies from three databases, then screening the studies based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, after the removal of duplicates.

Results: 12 studies and 1 report were included and analysed in this review. The key findings from these studies are the lack of trained healthcare professionals, poor standards of healthcare professionals, inadequate health facilities, contraceptive unavailability, unaffordability, and low awareness of SRHS, cultural, structural, and social barriers to accessing these critical services.

Conclusion: This review reveals the challenges faced by these women and girls in accessing SRHS. It is therefore recommended that the host government, in collaboration with international agencies, ensure that adequate funds are allocated to the health sector, promote professionalism among health professionals through additional training, and create more awareness about available SRHS, empowerment programs, and early sex education for women and girls. More research should be conducted in Sub-Saharan countries and explore marginalised areas of SRH such as self-induced abortion, menstrual resumption and stigma regarding abortion and contraception.