RSU Takes Part in International Study on the Effects COVID-19 Restrictions have on Sexual and Reproductive Health

Employees and students of Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) are involved in the international I-SHARE (International Sexual Health and Reproductive Health) study on the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on sexual and reproductive health. This study aims to understand the impact that COVID-19 and the restrictions imposed to contain the disease has had on sexual and reproductive health.

COVID-19 and the restrictions associated with it have brought many changes to people’s daily lives and habits, raising the question of how quarantine, self-isolation, social distancing and other measures have affected our sexual and reproductive health.

Studies of other emergencies (such as epidemics of communicable diseases, wars, and natural disasters) show that anxiety, infection, changes in access to health care, and other conditions affect the course and outcome of pregnancies, increase in the number of unplanned, often unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, and delayed diagnoses of these diseases, an increase in sexual violence and other risks to sexual and reproductive health.

The international network ANSER (Academic Network for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Policy) and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, together with scientific institutions from more than 30 countries, are launching a study to better understand how COVID-19 has affected and continues to affect sexual and reproductive health and how to better prepare for other crisis situations while maintaining good sexual and reproductive health and quality of life.

The I-SHARE study in Latvia is included in the project of the National Research Program project for the mitigation of COVID-19. In Latvia, the research is carried out by RSU lecturers and students led by Prof. Gunta Lazdāne.

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