Unveiling Maternal Health Insights During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Pakistan: Using Causal Loop Diagrams to Illuminate and Prevent Unintended Policy Effects

Key Messages

Causal loop diagrams can highlight and visualize complex behaviors, pinpointing vital leverage points for effective interventions in response to public health crises. Additionally, their use promotes a mutual understanding among policymakers, managers, and service providers about the depth of the crisis and the resulting response. We used a causal loop diagram to visualize how the COVID-19 pandemic and its response disrupted maternal health services in Islamabad, Pakistan. We argue that given the complexity of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the pre-existing vulnerabilities of Pakistan’s maternal health system, systems thinking approaches, such as causal loop diagrams, should have been at the center of the pandemic preparedness and response to consider and prevent unintended consequences.