The Impact of COVID-19 on Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) in Indonesia: A Systematic Literature Review

¹ Master of Public Health Program, Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Diponegoro, Semarang, Indonesia
² Department of Public Health Policy and Administration, Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Diponegoro, Semarang, Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: sasha.paramesthi@gmail.com

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia put pressure on assisted reproductive technology (ART) practices. Travel restrictions and hospital closures reduced access to ART which are located mostly in capital cities. Thus, investigating how the pandemic affected Indonesian ART services is crucial. This study reviewed literature using PRISMA method. PICO Model criteria were used to search articles. During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Papers were obtained from Google Scholar, ResearchGate, and Cerdika databases. Researchers searched journals spanned between 2022 – 2024 for “COVID-19” and limited the publication year to 2020 – 2021, the year of pandemic. The results of the study show that the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant effect on Indonesia’s use of ART. It was more challenging to reach and use ART therapies with travel restrictions and health facility closures. Nonetheless, most fertility clinics had changed their health standards in response to the circumstances. The recommendations point to more investigation to better understand how the pandemic had affected ART services and to create fresh approaches to deal with the evolving pandemic scenario. We suggest that more hospitals and primary health care institutions have a better standard for ART in a significant force situation. Also, multiply the services in more locations; thus, if travel restrictions happen in some circumstances, the patient still gets to the services closest to their house.