Today, Wednesday, the Higher Population Council and ShareNet Jordan launched the results of two studies in Sexual and Reproductive Health, during a meeting held under the auspices of the representative of the Secretary General for Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases Affairs in the Ministry of Health, Director of Primary Health Care Department in the Ministry, Dr. Riyad Al-Shayyab, with the participation of representatives of official and civil institutions, civil society institutions, and international bodies.

The first study was titled “The impact of social and economic factors and gender dynamics of women and girls' sexual and reproductive health in Jerash Governorate” and the second was titled “The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on obtaining and access to family planning information and services in Jordan” and the two were prepared by the Higher Population Council and ShareNet Jordan, sponsored by ShareNet International.

The Acting Secretary-General of the Higher Population Council, Rania Al-Abadi, highlighted in her speech that the preparation of the two studies came within the framework of the council’s work and ShareNet Jordan in Contribute to improving sexual and reproductive health in Jordan, by promoting evidence-based knowledge that is applied to policies and practices in this field.

Al-Abadi indicated that the two studies combined a quantitative and qualitative approach, and the first study was based on a quantitative analysis of Population and Family Health Surveys 2012 and 2017 data, And on analyzing The qualitative data generated by Holding focus group discussions and one-on-one interviews with health care providers and stakeholders in Jerash Governorate, while the second study was based on a quantitative analysis of survey data specially prepared for a sample of women of childbearing age and those who receive family planning services at the health centers of the Ministry of Health, the Institute for Family Health, and the clinics of the Islamic Centers Association, In addition to an analysis of qualitative data generated by focus group discussions of providers of sexual and reproductive health and family planning services, and meetings with decision-makers regarding family planning in different sectors.

She stressed the importance of adopting the recommendations of these two studies by the concerned institutions and translating them into work programs and institutional interventions that contribute to the promotion of sexual and reproductive health in a way that contributes to achieving the national strategy for reproductive and sexual health in Jordan goals.

For his part, the Director of the Primary Health Care Department in the Ministry, Dr. Riyad Al-Shayyab, confirmed that the Ministry of Health has taken a quick step towards improving the quality of health services, both preventive and curative, and is working to provide the best level of services to citizens, focusing on primary health care, including reproductive and sexual health services. To implement the objectives of the National Agenda and the Strategic Plan, Where the ministry is keen on the sustainability of services and the expansion of their scope on an annual basis and according to needs.

Al-Sheyyab indicated that there are (521) health centers in the Ministry of Health spread in all governorates of the Kingdom providing reproductive health services and family planning free of charge. Parental counseling and awareness services for sexual health for adolescents have been introduced in (24) centers in cooperation with the Royal Health Awareness Society, and a guide to reproductive and sexual health for adolescents has been prepared as part of the Ministry’s relentless pursuit of comprehensive services, ensuring their quality and ensuring that the Jordanian citizen in general, and the youth and adolescents in particular, enjoy high quality and efficient health care at all ages, and according to standards. The Ministry’s centers also provide reproductive health services for women of childbearing age, which include (care during pregnancy, postpartum, post-abortion, childcare, follow-up of growth and development, vaccination and Counseling services, family planning, health education, domestic violence, and reproductive health services in crises).

In turn, Dorine Thomissen, the global coordinator of the ShareNet International, stated that the work of ShareNet International is concerned with linking research to policies and practices, as it looks at how to enhance the use of knowledge in developing evidence-based policies and practices, noting that ShareNet International aims to answer research questions of policymakers and practitioners, as this matter is still highly required to improve sexual and reproductive health at the global and national levels.

Thomissen confirmed her delightedness to see this kind of progress in Jordan, where the studies and policy briefs that have been launched are a model for the ShareNet 's international work, adding that she calls on everyone to use the policy briefs to make further improvements in their work and in sexual and reproductive health in Jordan and abroad in general.

“The impact of social and economic factors and gender dynamics of women and girls' sexual and reproductive health in Jerash Governorate” study aimed to investigate the influence of social factors and economic and gender dynamics on the sexual and reproductive health of women and girls in Jerash Governorate and come up with procedural policies, with the aim of enlightening and improving the outcomes of communication and service programs directed at health Nationality and reproductive health, in a way that contributes to supporting opportunities to improve the level of sexual and reproductive health for women and girls in Jerash Governorate.

The study came out with a set of results, the most important of which is that the social norms related to gender explained weakness in several indicators of sexual and reproductive health in the governorate, that weakness in women empowerment is the reason behind the great difficulty that prevents women from obtaining medical care when they need it, that many of the discrepancies in many indicators are due to the woman’s nationality and its educational level, there are specific areas in the governorate where early marriage, polygamy, and consanguineous marriage are common. The scarcity of sexually transmitted diseases, whether in schools or universities, is behind the low awareness and health culture among young men and women under 25 years of age, multiple opportunities are wasted in a number of facilities and times to obtain sexual and reproductive counseling and education before and after marriage.

The study and summary brief derived from it suggested a collection of procedural policies that can address the reasons behind the weakness in the sexual and reproductive health indicators in Jerash Governorate and contribute to its advancement, including raising the levels of knowledge of local communities on issues of reproductive and sexual health and women’s rights, that appeared to be minimum or incorrect, exploiting the many missed opportunities to provide counseling and/or services related to reproductive and sexual health to the segments of the population that need it most, promoting protection and empowerment of girls and women.

While the study on “The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on obtaining and access to family planning information and services in Jordan” sought to study the reality of family planning services in Jordan during the Covid-19 pandemic, evaluate the ease of access and obtain family planning services, and diagnose the obstacles and gaps that faced the different sectors in providing family planning services during the period of total and partial closure, with the aim of developing the necessary recommendations to address the issues facing family planning programs and to ensure their continuity during crises.

The study came out with several results, the most prominent of which is that providing family planning services during the pandemic faced many obstacles and challenges due to restrictive government measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus, and a decrease in the number of qualified staff to provide services, and the fear of users of family planning services from infection from health centers, especially those that provide PCR service, fieldwork in awareness and education programs related to family planning services has stopped, which has prevented new beneficiaries or interruptions from accessing services, and the national response to the pandemic has mainly neglected the importance of sexual and reproductive health programs and did not give them a priority in the planning and implementation process. The national strategies and operational plans also lacked specialized goals and activities related to ensuring the continuity of providing sexual and reproductive health services, including family planning during emergencies and crises, and the procedural and training manuals related to family planning services and information activities during emergencies and crises were absent.

The results of the study also showed that (33.1 % ) of the women needed to visit a service provider/health center to obtain any services related to family planning advice and services, during the closure period, And that (26%) of these women (who wanted to obtain family planning services) were unable to obtain them for several reasons, including,  the closure of places to provide services by (60 % ) of them, the results also showed a preference of (32, 5%) of ladies for the long term means such as IUD, and (21, 8%) of them to using methods that do not require a review of service providers such as traditional methods; Which affected their ability to continue using the method and not need to repeat the supply.

The results added, that by studying the impact of the Corona pandemic on women's reproductive preferences, that (44, 2%) of them showed that the change in the economic situation resulting from the Corona pandemic had an impact on their desire for reproduction, (25.4% ) of them wanted to postpone pregnancy, a percentage of (23,6 % ) of them wanted to reduce the number of children they desired.

The study and its policy brief suggested a set of policies to ensure the continuity of providing family planning information and services during crises, including, strengthening the response to crises in national policies and strategies related to family planning, including training programs for health service providers, counseling and providing remote services, especially during crises, strengthening mechanisms to facilitate access and obtaining of target groups to family planning services and information, strengthening the provision of counseling and remote family planning services, especially during crises, activating partnership mechanisms between the public and private sectors and civil society to ensure the continuity of providing family planning information and services.