1Dr. Riddhi Srivastava (riddhi_sri@yahoo.co.in) is a UGC Post Doctoral Fellow at Dept. of Sociology, University of Lucknow, Lucknow
2Prof. D R Sahu (sahu.dr@gmail.com) is Professor at Dept. of Sociology, University of Lucknow, Lucknow
Online published on 2 March, 2021.
'Unprecedented' is the appropriate succinct description of the times we are living in the year 2020. An unfavoured but a necessary corollary of it is 'uncertainty'.COVID-19 pandemic has not only introduced a massive public health challenge before the world but also distinctly laid open the inefficiencies and frailty of public health systems at the level of preparedness, response, and health policy framework, of even the most developed economies. Low and middle income countries (LMIC) already remain at a greater risk of adverse impact of any public health emergency, leave alone the kind of present pandemic and its magnitude. A unique impact of any public health emergency on LMIC, in particular, is that while handling the emergency, delivery of other essential health services gets negatively affected leaving the vulnerable groups even further marginalised e.g. expectant women. It becomes essential to note that without an effective and robust healthcare system and policy framework, health outcomes would continue to get adversely impacted.
COVID-19, pandemic, lockdown, maternal healthcare, public health policy, antenatal care
