Estimating the effect of COVID-19 on utilization of health services in the DRC and Bangladesh

Using information available through routine health information systems (RHIS), Data for Impact (D4I) conducted a study to examine the effects of COVID-19 on the utilization of health services in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Bangladesh. The study sought to examine patterns for the use of selected non-COVID-19 related health services, including maternal and child health (MCH), family planning (FP), outpatient visits, and immunizations, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in both countries. We

used routine data from the pre-pandemic period to develop models to replicate the average and total health service utilization over time. These models were then used to estimate what health service utilization would have been in the absence of COVID-19 during the months of the pandemic (since March 2020).

The study aimed to investigate two key questions:

1) Did COVID-19 affect reporting of health service delivery over time?

2) Did COVID-19 affect the utilization of basic

health services?