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 Women are more likely than men to live in poverty, take on unpaid
work and lose their jobs during the pandemic, while pregnant women
are at higher risk of getting severe cases of COVID-19, the World
Health Organization's regional branch said.
"Right now, many Latin American women are facing the impossible
choice between earning a paycheck and protecting their health. And
for too many, healthcare remains out of reach," PAHO Director
Carissa Etienne said in a briefing.
According to United Nations estimates, up to 20 million women in the
Americas will have their birth control disrupted during the
pandemic, either because services are unavailable or because women
will no longer have the means to pay for contraception.
Reproductive services are affected, while pregnancy and newborn care
have been disrupted in half of the countries in the Americas,
leaving expectant and new mothers at risk.
"If this continues, the pandemic is expected to obliterate more than
20 years of progress in expanding women's access to family planning
and tackling maternal deaths in the region," Etienne said.
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 Some women may go through their
entire pregnancies without seeing a doctor at
time when care could not be more critical, she
said.
Because their immune systems change throughout
their pregnancies, pregnant women are more
vulnerable to respiratory infections, like
COVID-19, and if they get sick, they also tend
to develop more serious symptoms that require
intubation.
Data from 24 countries indicates that more than
200,000 pregnant women have fallen sick with
COVID-19 in the Americas, and at least a
thousand have died from complications, according
to PAHO.
(Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Richard
Chang)
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