Impacts of COVID-19 on Maternal and Newborn Healthcare Delivery in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe: A Scoping Review and Proposal for a Resilience Framework

Background and Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly disrupted maternal and newborn healthcare worldwide, necessitating rapid reorganization of healthcare services while maintaining essential care. Evidence from Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe (CESEE) remains fragmented despite the region’s heterogeneous healthcare systems and variable pandemic responses. This scoping review synthesized the available evidence on maternal and newborn healthcare delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic and proposes a Maternal and Newborn Healthcare Resilience Framework (MNRF) to integrate the findings across key domains of healthcare resilience. Materials and Methods: PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science Core Collection were searched, with Google Scholar used as a supplementary search source. Eligible publications were published between 1 January 2020 and 31 May 2026. Evidence was synthesized across four predefined MNRF domains: access and continuity of care, healthcare organization and system capacity, quality and family-centered care, and maternal, perinatal, and neonatal outcomes. Results: Twelve publications met the inclusion criteria; several represented analyses derived from shared or partially overlapping datasets, particularly the multinational IMAgiNE EURO project. Across CESEE countries with available evidence, the pandemic disrupted access to antenatal services, accelerated the implementation of telemedicine, and prompted extensive reorganization of maternity and neonatal care. Family-centered practices, including birth companionship, skin-to-skin contact, breastfeeding support, and shared decision-making, were consistently affected. Maternal, perinatal, and neonatal outcomes showed no consistent regional pattern of deterioration in the included evidence; however, data were limited and heterogeneous, and localized increases in stillbirths and changes in neonatal healthcare utilization were reported. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic exposed important vulnerabilities and prompted substantial adaptations in maternal and newborn healthcare delivery in the represented CESEE settings. The MNRF provides a structured, hypothesis-generating conceptual model for organizing these experiences and identifying priorities for preparedness and future research.