Reform of frameworks for sexual and reproductive health: A regional dynamic between Togo, Cameroon and Benin

FIGO
4 March 2026
ATBEF – the Association Togolaise pour le Bien-Etre Familial

In February 2026, Centre ODAS, the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) conducted a regional initiative in Lomé, Togo and in Grand-Popo, Benin, aimed at strengthening the legal framework for sexual and reproductive health in Francophone Africa.

Bringing together governmental and civil society stakeholders from Togo – the Association Togolaise pour le Bien-Être Familial (ATBEF), the Société de Gynécologie et d’Obstétrique du Togo (SGOT), the Direction de la Santé de la Mère et de l’Enfant (DSME), and the Legal Division of the Ministry of Health – Cameroon – the Cameroon National Association for Family Welfare (CAMNAFAW), the Société des Obstétriciens et Gynécologues du Cameroun (SOGOC), a national Think Tank, and the Ministries of Health and Justice – and Benin – the Association Béninoise pour la Promotion de la Famille (ABPF), the Conseil National des Gynécologues et Obstétriciens du Bénin (CNGOB), the Direction de la Santé de la Mère et de l’Enfant (DSME), and the National Assembly – the proceedings enabled an in-depth analysis of national legal and health environments.

Continued: https://www.figo.org/news/reform-frameworks-sexual-and-reproductive-health-regional-dynamic-between-togo-cameroon-and

Advocating for Safe Abortion Project: learnings and successes from Cameroon, Burkina Faso and Mali

27 November 2025
FIGO

The Advocating for Safe Abortion (ASA) Project has made major strides in improving access to safe and quality abortion care in Cameroon, Mali and Burkina Faso. Led by the Society of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians of Cameroon (SOGOC), the Société Malienne de Gynécologie et d’Obstétrique (SOMAGO) and the Société de Gynécologie et d’Obstétrique de Burkina Faso (SOGOB) with support from FIGO, the project has broken long-standing taboos, fostered open dialogue and shifted attitudes in the community.

We look back on collective project experience from the past couple of years to share some useful insights.

Continued: https://www.figo.org/news/advocating-safe-abortion-project-learnings-and-successes-cameroon-burkina-faso-and-mali

Supporting Abortion Rights In West And Central Africa

PUBLISHED JANUARY 18, 2024
Global Fund for Women

Deciding how to spend one million dollars may just be a dream for many people, but for a group of West and Central African feminist leaders, it was a reality.

They gathered in person for the first time in the seaside town of Kribi, Cameroon to celebrate a historic moment: together they made collective decisions to direct $1.2 million in grants to fund abortion rights movement work in their communities.

Continued: https://www.globalfundforwomen.org/latest/article/shifting-power-supporting-movements-abortion-rights-in-west-and-central-africa-lessons-learned/

18.01.2024

Commentary

Caryn Dasah

Global Fund for Women

Doctors In Cameroon Want Law on Abortion Changed

Unsafe abortions are responsible for 30 percent of maternal deaths in Cameroon. Medics in the country believe the law is a health problem and are leading advocacy for better legal responses to eligible abortion cases.

Brenda Kiven
May 9, 2023

Enah almost died at 15 when she attempted an abortion at home. She was five months gone when she was advised by a friend to use cassava roots to terminate her pregnancy.

After her mom passed away in Muyuka, Southwest Cameroon, Enah’s elder sister moved to the nation’s capital, Yaoundé, with her husband.

Continued: https://humanglemedia.com/doctors-in-cameroon-want-law-on-abortion-changed/

09.05.2023

News

Advocacy for Comprehensive Abortion Care

Society of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians

Cameroon: SOGOC Pleads with Govt for Abortion Laws Review

The Society of Gynecologists and Obstetricians of Cameroon wants the law on abortion to be reviewed in Parliament. In particular, certain articles and paragraphs.

Published on 11.11.2022
by Nana Kamsu Kom

The issue of abortion was the subject of a meeting between the Cameroonian Gynaecologists and Obstetricians and the Minister of Public Health yesterday November 10. The idea of the meeting was to review the provisions of the 2016 Penal Code on abortion, as a subject of exchange.

30% is the percentage of women who die every year from unsafe abortion. According to the Society of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians of Cameroon this figure could be reduced if the right to abortion was granted in certain cases, the team, led by the first vice president Prof. Nelson Fomolu, revealed.

Continued: https://www.journalducameroun.com/en/cameroon-sogoc-pleads-with-govt-for-abortion-laws-review/

11.11.2022

Society of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians of Cameroon

40 Journalists Across Cameroon Schooled on Reprodcutive Rights Reporting

Published on 30.09.2022
Nana Kamsu Kom

A two days workshop on Sexual Reproductive Health Reporting was held in Yaounde from September 28th to 29th 2022. An initiative spearheaded by Sisterspeak237 and the Canadian Embassy.

Reporting on sensitive topics like female health reproduction has being a hard task for many journalists over the years. That was the backbone of a workshop on Sexual Reproductive Health Reporting which aimed at creating a bond and possible collaboration between journalists and Doctors. The Society of Gynecologist and Obstetricians Cameroon, SOGOC, engages into a 6 months project of intense collaboration with journalists ; to facilitate access to information.

Continued: https://www.journalducameroun.com/en/40-journalists-across-cameroon-schooled-on-srhr/

30.09.2022

Featured

News

FIGO

International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

journalists and abortion

media and abortion

media guidelines on abortion

Sisterspeak237

Society of Gynecologist and Obstetricians Cameroon

Looking back on the successes of the International Safe Abortion Day 2021

10 December 2021
FIGO Advocating for Safe Abortion Project

For International Safe Abortion Day (ISAD), marked on 28 September, the 10 national member societies FIGO supports through its Advocating for Safe Abortion Project developed educational activities and awareness-raising campaigns in their countries and communities.

“International Safe Abortion Day is about making what is often ignored – the preventable pandemic of unsafe abortions - visible. As a committed health care community we come together to demonstrate what solutions must be implemented. Together with our partners, we raise our voices to dismantle abortion-related stigma which is the enemy of women/girls’ right to claim access to safe abortion – time-sensitive essential health care. This year from Latin America to Africa we are proud to share the efforts of our OBGYN member societies, and all that they are doing to stand up for women/girls’ health care and human rights.”
– Jessica Morris, Senior Project Manager, Advocating for Safe Abortion Project, FIGO

Continued: https://www.figo.org/news/looking-back-successes-international-safe-abortion-day-2021

Building bridges: OBGYNs engage with traditional healers to strengthen access to safe abortion in Africa

11 March 2021

As part of FIGO’s ongoing Advocating for Safe Abortion Project (ASAP), three of our member societies shared their experiences engaging with traditional healers and the lessons they have learned from these activities and engagements.

‘Traditional healer’ is used to describe a person who provides counselling and/or herbal remedies to community members for an array of health issues. This may include supporting women and girls with their pregnancies, labour and reproductive health concerns, as well as providing the community with guidance on birth, wedding and death rituals, and other community-related affairs.

Continued: https://www.figo.org/news/building-bridges-obgyns-engage-traditional-healers-strengthen-access-safe-abortion-africa

Combatting maternal mortality in Cameroon

Combatting maternal mortality in Cameroon

29.10.2019
FIGO news

The Society of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians of Cameroon (SOGOC) officially launched their Advocacy for Comprehensive Abortion Care project in Yaoundé on Monday September 30, 2019.

The launch included a ceremony that was presided over by the Director of the Department of Family Health, Professor Mbu Robinson. It was an occasion for the guests and the public to discover and learn more about SOGOC and the Advocacy for Comprehensive Abortion Care project. The speeches from the society’s President Prof Leke and the Focal point of the project Dr Eko, highlighted the mission, vision, context and objectives of the society and the project.

Continued: https://www.figo.org/news/combatting-maternal-mortality-cameroon-0016263

Study: Abortions From Rapes on Rise in Cameroon’s Conflict Zones

Study: Abortions From Rapes on Rise in Cameroon's Conflict Zones

February 20, 2019
Moki Edwin Kindzeka

YAOUNDE — A new study confirms rape has become a weapon of war in Cameroon's separatist conflict, and many victims are terminating pregnancies with crude, unsafe abortion techniques.

Sixteen-year-old Mercy Azefor says she was raped in Nkambe while hiding on her mother's farm after her parents were killed in April 2018. Nkambe is in the Northwest region, one of two areas where English-speaking separatist groups are fighting to break away from Cameroon and its French-speaking majority.

Continued: https://www.voanews.com/a/study-abortions-rapes-increasing-cameroon-conflict-zones/4796973.html

20.02.2019