DRC – September 27, 2018 News Release

Complications from Unsafe Abortion Common in Kinshasa
New evidence demonstrates need to improve access to safe abortion and postabortion care

September 27, 2018
News Release

A new study using data from 2016 found that the majority of women in Kinshasa who seek postabortion care following an unsafe abortion experience severe or moderate complications. In 2016, 37,900 women obtained treatment for complications from abortion in Kinshasa, the capital and largest urban area of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Kinshasa and the New York-based Guttmacher Institute, documents for the first time the immediate health consequences of complications resulting from unsafe abortion among women admitted to health facilities in Kinshasa, as well as the type of treatment these patients received. Researchers found that women receiving postabortion care were most commonly treated using outdated methods not recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Continued: https://www.guttmacher.org/news-release/2018/complications-unsafe-abortion-common-kinshasa