Generating evidence on the Impact of pandemic Social restrictions on Reproductive health among adolescent girls and young women in Uganda - Lessons learnt for better future preparedness (GIRLS)

Reports warn of serious pandemic harm on adolescent girls´ and young womens´ (AGYW, 13-24 yrs) lives including on their reproductive health in Africa.

The specific aims of this project are to: 1) evaluate the impact of COVID-19 societal restrictions including school closures on unintended pregnancy and contraceptive use among AGYW, and estimate the long-term societal cost of these restrictions in Uganda (Study 1); 2) explore AGYWs’ and other key stakeholders’ understanding of risk factors and underlying reasons for unintended pregnancies and low contraceptive use in the wake of the pandemic and beyond (Study 2); 3) co-design a resilient intervention package aiming to reduce unintended pregnancies and improve contraceptive use among AGYW (Study 3); and 4) implement and test the intervention package using a cluster-randomized design.

Data will be drawn from a large population cohort (rural/urban,