The impact of disasters on contraception in OECD member countries: a scoping review

This scoping review explored the impact of disasters on contraception in high-income countries. Comprehensive searches were conducted and extracted data analysed thematically. 110 articles were included. The majority focused on the Zika virus outbreak and the COVID-19 pandemic. Four key themes were identified: importance of contraception during disasters, impact of disasters on contraceptive behaviour, barriers to contraception during disasters and ways of improving uptake of contraception during disasters. Despite efforts to increase access to contraception, barriers to uptake meant unmet need persisted. To prevent adverse health outcomes and reduce health costs, efforts to remove barriers to uptake should be intensified.