A cross-sectional research study on Impact of covid-19 pandemic era on Pregnant Women sero-positivity for Syphilis among women attending antenatal care in India and number of babies diagnosed with Congenital Syphilis?

Abstract Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) still continue to be a major public health problem globally, affecting the quality of life as well as causing serious morbidity and mortality. STIs have a direct and significant impact on reproductive and child health. They can directly cause infertility, cancers as well as pregnancy complications, and indirectly affects individual economies. The information on the number of PW found to be sero positive for Syphilis among women attending antenatal care in India and number of babies diagnosed with Congenital Syphilis is collected from HMIS electronic records of MoHFW, Government of India with key objective to know about the impact of covid-19 era i.e. 2020 and 2021 on prevalence of syphilis by comparing it with the pre pandemic era of 2018 and 2019. I collected sero positivity data for Syphilis among women attending antenatal care in India and number of babies diagnosed with Congenital Syphilis across 36 states and union territories of India including all health facilities viz. public, private, rural, urban health facilities. The data is collected, observed and analyzed with Microsoft office software. The total number of pregnancies and deliveries have shown declining trend during pandemic years as compared to pre-pandemic era. Year-wise maximum number of syphilis positive pregnant women treated for syphilis were reported in 2021. The average number of babies per month diagnosed with congenital syphilis increased in pandemic era whereas average number of babies per month treated with congenital syphilis decreased in pandemic era. This research study revealed that there is an increasing number trend of following in pandemic years as compared to pre-pandemic years: • Number of PW tested using POC test for Syphilis • Out of above, number of PW found sero positive for Syphilis • Number of babies diagnosed with Congenital Syphilis • Total pregnant women tested found sero positive for Syphilis by any test