The COVID-19 pandemic poses unprecedented challenges to health systems around the world as governments mobilize limited resources to fight the pandemic. Resources needed to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 are likely being reallocated from other health services. At the same time, women and adolescent girls – who are already vulnerable to unintended pregnancy, gender-based violence, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and cervical cancer – now face amplified vulnerabilities due to affected or limited access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services that are often parceled between different providers and service delivery points.1 The ECHO study findings2 are another stark reminder that women, and especially adolescent girls, remain highly at risk of acquiring HIV infection and other STIs, and their comprehensive health needs are not being met.
