Training helps improve abortion and contraceptive care in marginalized and humanitarian settings in Nigeria

Rachel Ogunlana, IPAS Nigeria
May 22, 2025

In the aftermath of humanitarian crises, many communities are forced out of their settlements, increasing their vulnerability. In such challenging environments, transactional sex for food is the norm, and consequently, increased instances of rape and forced marriages. The need for access to abortion and contraception services is critical in these settings. It’s also important that within healthcare facilities, healthcare workers are equipped to provide these services.

The Ipas Nigeria project, “Improving Reproductive Autonomy for Women and Girls in Nigeria”, addresses this need. It provides training to humanitarian and health care workers to offer responsive care to women and girls who have experienced sexual violence in humanitarian settings.

Continued: https://www.ipas.org/news/abortion-contraceptive-humanitarian-nigeria/

22.05.2025

Commentary

Improving Reproductive Autonomy for Women and Girls in Nigeria

Ipas Nigeria

manual vacuum aspiration

Kenya – Shocking statistics should make us to re-look abortion laws

by Kavutha Mutua
May. 19, 2025

Recently, I attended the launch of the National Study on the Incidence of Induced Abortions and the Severity of Abortion-Related Complications in Kenya. The findings? Eye-opening. But the online reaction? Even more telling.

It turns out that 79 per cent of post-abortion care patients are married women, and 90 per cent identify as Christians. Yes, you read that right, Christian, married women. So much for the age-old myth that abortion is a sinful pastime reserved for reckless teenagers.

For too long, Kenya has clung to a harmful stereotype; that abortion is the consequence of youth, immorality, and poor decision-making. But the data says otherwise. The majority of those seeking abortion services are women aged 25–34, many of whom have already had children. So if we’re being honest, this isn’t a story of careless girls. It’s about grown women, wives, mothers, Christians, making private decisions in a hostile legal and moral climate.

Continued: https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/opinion/article/2001519397/shocking-statistics-should-make-us-to-re-look-abortion-laws

19.05.2025

Opinion

Incidence of Induced Abortions and the Severity of Abortion-related Complications in Kenya

International Day of Families

Kenya – Women staring at death over poor post-abortion care

Thursday, May 15, 2025
By Angela Oketch

Only two out of every 10 primary-level health facilities in Kenya are equipped to provide basic post-abortion care (PAC) to women, a new study has revealed.

The study conducted by the Ministry of Health, the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), and the Guttmacher Institute found that just 18.3 per cent of facilities met the minimum criteria for delivering basic PAC services.

Continued: https://nation.africa/kenya/health/women-staring-at-death-over-poor-post-abortion-care-5042470

15.05.2025

News

African Population and Health Research Center

Annet Nerima

Kenya Human Rights Commission

Kenya’s Unsafe Abortion Crisis Is Fueled by Silence, Not Recklessness

May 7, 2025
By Jeremick Joe

In 2023, Kenya saw approximately 792,694 induced abortions a sharp increase from 464,690 recorded in 2012. But these numbers tell only part of the story. Behind them is a tragic reality: many of these abortions were carried out in unsafe conditions, with young women resorting to harmful, sometimes fatal, methods due to a lack of access to safe services. According to data, one in ten women who had an abortion in Kenya used dangerous techniques such as ingesting toxic substances or inserting sharp objects desperate actions driven not by carelessness, but by a lack of knowledge and resources

The Legal Gap: Access to Abortion Isn’t Enough Without Access to Care
Kenya’s Constitution (Article 26) permits abortion in cases where the mother’s life or health is at risk, or in cases of rape. However, this legal provision is often clouded by confusion and fear. Many women, particularly young women, are unaware of their legal rights or unable to access safe abortion services due to societal stigma, misinformation, and cultural taboos.

Continued: https://ghettoradio.co.ke/kenyas-unsafe-abortion-crisis-is-fueled-by-silence-not-recklessness/

07.05.2025

Network for Adolescent and Youth of Africa

Kenya – Hospitals unprepared for post-abortion care, study finds

Sunday, May 04, 2025
By Kamau Maichuhie

A new study has lifted the lid on the unpreparedness of health facilities to deal with post abortion care in the country.

The study titled “Incidence of Induced Abortions and the Severity of Abortion-related Complications in Kenya released on Friday, shows only 18 percent of Level Two and Three facilities offer post-abortion care in the country, thus putting thousands of women at risk.

The study further indicates that only 24 percent of referral-level facilities could provide comprehensive post-abortion care (PAC) services.

Continued: https://nation.africa/kenya/health/hospitals-unprepared-for-post-abortion-care-study-finds-5027950

Nigeria – Subnational govts urged to allocate funds for SRH, PAC, mental health

by Ishola Michael
December 14, 2024

The need for government, especially at the subnational level, to make specific fund allocations to mitigate the negative impacts of sexual and reproductive health (SRH), post-abortion care (PAC), and mental health issues has been stressed.

The call was made during a one-day meeting with stakeholders and journalists on advancing policies on SRH, post-abortion care, and mental health services through innovative advocacy, organised by the Bauchi State Ministry of Health (BSMOH) in collaboration with the Academy for Health Development (AHEAD) and the Guttmacher Institute at the SMOH Conference Hall in Bauchi.

Continued: https://tribuneonlineng.com/subnational-govts-urged-to-allocate-funds-for-srh-pac-mental-health/

14.12.2024

News

Academy for Health Development

funding for safe abortion

post-abortion care

sexual and reproductive health

‘It’s needless death’: Ugandan activists decry restrictive abortion laws

Abortion is generally illegal in Uganda, and fear of imprisonment leads many to resort to extreme and unsafe practices.

By Sophie Neiman
Published On 28 Sep 2024

Kampala, Uganda – At exactly 3:21pm on August 25, Moses Odongo received a call informing him that his 14-year-old cousin Christine had died attempting to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.

Odongo, who is 40, had just returned home and was sitting down for a drink and a bite to eat. His grief at her untimely death quickly mixed with anger at Uganda’s restrictive abortion laws and conservative culture, which he believes killed her.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/9/28/its-needless-death-ugandan-activists-decry-restrictive-abortion-laws

Uganda – Family Medical Point rescues Kigungu women from death caused by unsafe abortions

NELSON MANDELA | PML Daily Reporter
March 10, 2024

ENTEBBE – Namakula Josephine is a sex worker in Kigungu landing site, Entebbe. She says in 2023, a client deliberately broke a condom thereby impregnating her.

As a poor lady, she was advised by a friend to use herbal medicine to remove the unwanted baby because she couldn’t raise money for a safe abortion. Little did she know this could cost her life.

“I got a lot of complications, bled a lot, and even some foetus parts remained inside which started rotting,” she narrated.

Continued: https://www.pmldaily.com/news/2024/03/celebrating-a-woman-family-medical-point-rescues-kigungu-women-from-death-caused-by-unsafe-abortions.html

10.03.2024

Uganda Demographic Health Survey 2016

Ugandan Women Risk Their Lives to Access Abortion

“Many girls are dying because we have chosen to ignore them.”

Friday, 8 March, 2024
Culton Scovia Nakamya

For Jovia (not her real name), 2023 was the worst year of her life. The 20-year-old business student was gang-raped at a drunken house party in the Kampala suburb of Kansanga and six weeks later realised that she was pregnant.

“I wondered what I am going to tell my parents. For God’s sake, I am just in my second semester of year one, and I didn’t know who did it,” she said.

Her options were limited, as abortion is illegal in Uganda except under rare circumstances. She confided in a female friend, who suggested they visit the Kampala suburb of Nakulabye, an area known as a hub of clinics that administer clandestine abortions, mostly to students.

Continued: https://iwpr.net/global-voices/ugandan-women-risk-their-lives-access-abortion

Local groups in Nigeria lead the way for inclusive abortion care

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2024
Ipas

In Nigeria, getting a safe abortion is already an uphill battle. But for women with disabilities, it can be nearly impossible. With support from the Ipas Collaborative Fund, the locally based SAIF Advocacy Foundation is paving the way to ensure that everyone, regardless of ability, can access the quality abortion care they have a right to.

Abortion is only legal in Nigeria to save a woman’s life, and factors like stigma, cost, and lack of trained health providers make it difficult for women to access abortion even when their lives are at risk. Not surprisingly, many people resort to abortion with unsafe methods. Some die, and many suffer injuries. Ipas has long worked in Nigeria to ensure that high-quality treatment for complications of unsafe abortion (often called postabortion care) is widely available, but barriers remain.

Continued: https://www.ipas.org/news/local-groups-in-nigeria-lead-the-way-for-inclusive-abortion-care/