• Bielka Carvajal G, Jame Rebolledo S, Ninoska Flández, Tania Fariña, and Vianney Sierralta.
• Departamento de Promoción de la Salud de la Mujer y el Recién Nacido, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
• Rev Med Chil. 2021 Sep 1; 149 (9): 1317-1321.

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic threatened the accessibility and response of healthcare systems worldwide. People with disabilities face specific access challenges to healthcare services and to healthcare information in accessible formats.AimTo explore how deaf women acceded to information and sexual and reproductive health care during the first wave of COVID-19.Material And MethodsSixty-one women with a median age of 32 years diagnosed with deafness and hearing loss were surveyed using an online questionnaire about access to healthcare information and midwifery care during the COVID-19 pandemic.ResultsForty-nine percent of respondents lived in the Metropolitan Region. Sixty-eight percent of respondents mentioned that information about COVID-19 was not accessible for them. The main source of information that they used to learn about the pandemic were videos made by deaf people available on the internet. Seventy-five percent of women reported that they had not received accessible information about sexual and reproductive health, and 70.0% of women requiring midwife care could not book an appointment.ConclusionsThe pandemic generated a crisis in the Chilean healthcare system that demands a new strategy to ensure people's healthcare access. People with disabilities such as those herein studied are marginalized when these new policies are being discussed and implemented. Decision-makers and sexual and reproductive health services must improve their strategies to allow women with disabilities, particularly deaf women gain access.

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