Nepal – Moving mountains: The women scaling new heights to deliver safe abortion care

Abortion pills are already saving lives in Nepal – and represent a potential health revolution for women worldwide

By Jennifer Rigby and Simon Townsley
14 January 2022

Every morning, Pragati Soti Khanal packs her huge grey and blue rucksack, ready to trek through Nepal’s famous mountains.

But she is not packing crampons and climbing ropes. Instead, in go scales, vast bottles of hand sanitiser, assorted medical instruments and a plastic box filled with pill packets.

Continued: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/women-and-girls/reproductive-health-in-nepal/

Empowering women worldwide: A revolution in safe abortion care

28 September 2021
by Dr Manisha Kumar, head of MSF’s task force on safe abortion care

I became an abortion provider almost 10 years ago. Since then, I have helped countless people around the world access safe abortion care. I’ve also witnessed the devastating complications from unsafe abortion when people do not have access to this essential healthcare. Unsafe abortion is one of the main causes of maternal death and suffering worldwide, and the only one that is almost entirely preventable.

An abortion with pills is a game-changer. The simple regimen, taken over 24 hours, has the power to completely revolutionise access to safe abortion care, especially in low-resource and humanitarian settings, where MSF works. Used by millions of people for over 30 years, we have decades of research and experience showing how safe and effective abortion pills are.

Continued: https://www.msf.org/self-managed-abortion-pills-opens-access-millions-people

End of US ‘global gag rule’ raises hopes for women’s healthcare at crucial time

‘The gag rule has had a trickle down impact by affecting access to other lifesaving services.’

28 January 2021
Claire Porter Robbins

When the Trump administration reinstated the “global gag rule” in 2017, the
International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) lost some $100 million in funding in the following years, impacting a spectrum of healthcare projects in 32 countries and going well beyond the intended goal of preventing abortions.

A health clinic in Haiti’s southern coastal town of Jacmel was one of the first casualties.

Continued: https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2021/1/28/global-gag-rule-abortion-access-biden-mexico-city-policy-haiti-namibia

MSF welcomes reversal of the Global Gag Rule

28 Jan 2021

More action is needed to expand access to safe abortion care

On January 28, President Biden rescinded the Mexico City policy, more commonly known as the Global Gag Rule.The policy prevents US government funds from going to any foreign nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that provide abortion-related information, referrals, or services, even with privately raised or non-US funds. It acts as a "gag" on health care providers worldwide, prohibiting them from even counseling women about their reproductive choices or referring them to other health providers for care.

Continued: https://reliefweb.int/report/world/msf-welcomes-reversal-global-gag-rule

28.01.2021

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Proposed changes to US Global Gag Rule threaten wider harm to women

Interview, 28 September 2020
Médecins Sans Frontières

The United States policy known as the Global Gag Rule has had a devastating impact on women’s access to sexual and reproductive healthcare since it was reinstated and greatly expanded by the Trump Administration more than three and a half years ago. The policy – which already forces health providers to choose between providing information to patients or receiving US funding – is now set to be expanded even further. Dr Manisha Kumar, head of Médecins Sans Frontières' (MSF) task force on safe abortion care, explains the risks facing women and girls.

Continued: https://www.msf.org/proposed-changes-us-anti-abortion-rule-threaten-wider-harm-women

How the Pandemic Is Changing Abortion Care in Vulnerable Countries

How the Pandemic Is Changing Abortion Care in Vulnerable Countries

By Rachelle Hampton
May 18, 2020

This as-told-to essay from Dr. Manisha Kumar has been edited and condensed for clarity from an interview with Rachelle Hampton.

I am currently the head of Médecins Sans Frontières’ task force for safe abortion care. It’s a relatively new initiative that started in 2016 to increase provision of contraception and safe abortion care in MSF projects. Before this role, I worked for MSF in many different capacities. I was both a field staff doctor in the Democratic Republic of Congo and a medical coordinator in DRC and Bangladesh. Just like many people, I’m working from home now, in Amsterdam. I’ve never spent this much time in my apartment, behind my computer, on Zoom meetings and calls. So much of MSF and who we are is based in the field.

Continued: https://slate.com/technology/2020/05/coronavirus-abortion-doctors-without-borders.html

Unsafe abortion: A forgotten emergency

Unsafe abortion: A forgotten emergency

Mar 7, 2019

Unsafe abortion remains one of the five leading causes of maternal mortality, despite the fact that it is almost always preventable.

More than 22,000 women and girls die each year after having an unsafe abortion, according to a comprehensive report published by the Guttmacher Institute in 2018.

Since 1990 the world has made significant progress to reduce the other main causes of maternal deaths—severe bleeding, severe infection, blood pressure disorders, and obstructed labor—yet there has been little improvement to diminish the dangers of unsafe abortion.

Continued: https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/what-we-do/news-stories/story/unsafe-abortion-forgotten-emergency

“I’ve seen with my own eyes, safe abortion saves lives”

"I’ve seen with my own eyes, safe abortion saves lives"

27 September 2018

Dr Manisha Kumar is a family medicine doctor and the coordinator of the Task Force for Safe Abortion Care, a project that aims to increase access to contraceptive and safe abortion care services offered by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) projects.

Before I started working at MSF field projects, I saw abortion as more of a political issue, or as an aspect of women’s rights. But now that I’ve seen women and girls in need of safe abortion, day after day, with my own eyes, I’ve come to understand abortion as a medical necessity, something that has a very real impact on people’s lives.

Continued: https://www.msf.org/ive-seen-my-own-eyes-safe-abortion-saves-lives