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International Safe Abortion Day 2022 | Collections | MSF Science Portal

Unsafe abortion is a leading cause of maternal death, and the only one that is completely preventable. Yet over 30 million unsafe abortions occur each year, leading to at least 28,000 deaths and millions of serious complications—nearly all in low- and middle-income countries.

MSF teams see these tragic consequences first-hand, treating thousands of patients every year with severe, potentially life-threatening effects from unsafe abortion. So in 2016 we launched a program to systematically implement safe abortion care (SAC), starting with ten pilot sites and then applying the lessons learned to scale up at projects across the globe.

This Collection presents highlights of these efforts. Since our first publication on the need to provide SAC as a way of reducing maternal death and injury, several studies assessed the role of unsafe abortion in driving this suffering in specific contexts. Others described internal obstacles to providing SAC, operational solutions developed, and outcomes achieved. And we advocated for shifting towards community-led and self-managed SAC, particularly given new obstacles that emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Collection Content

Technical Report
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Evidence Brief

The magnitude and severity of abortion-related complications in the Castors Maternity in Bangui, Central African Republic – Evidence brief, March 2022

Pasquier E, Owolabi OO, Fetters T, Chen H, Williams TN,  et al.
2022-08-30
2022-08-30
Abortion complications remain a major cause of maternal mortality worldwide and abortion-related mortality has decreased very little over the last decade, unlike maternal mortality linke...
Conference Material
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Poster

The pathway to care for women experiencing severe abortion-related morbidity: qualitative results from the AMoCo study, Jigawa State, Nigeria

Moore AM, Fetters T, Williams TN, Pasquier E, Kantiok J,  et al.
2022-05-09 • MSF Scientific Days International 2022
2022-05-09 • MSF Scientific Days International 2022
Conference Material
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Poster

Provision of safe abortion care: a multicentre descriptive mixed-methods analysis, MSF OCB 2018-2020

Van Haver A, Lagrou D, Van der Bergh R, Lynen M, Vaquero M,  et al.
2021-05-18 • MSF Scientific Days International 2021: Research
2021-05-18 • MSF Scientific Days International 2021: Research
Conference Material
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Slide Presentation

Knowledge, attitudes, practices and behaviour of maternity ward staff in relation to comprehensive abortion care in a conflict-affected setting, Bangui, Central African Republic: cross-sectional survey

Chen H, Fetters T, Ngbale NR, Nguengo L, Dodane T,  et al.
2021-05-18 • MSF Scientific Days International 2021: Research
2021-05-18 • MSF Scientific Days International 2021: Research
Journal Article
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Commentary

Now is the time: a call for increased access to contraception and safe abortion care during the COVID-19 pandemic

Kumar M, Daly M, de Plecker E, Jamet C, McRae M,  et al.
2020-07-20 • BMJ Global Health
2020-07-20 • BMJ Global Health
SUMMARY BOX

• The COVID-19 pandemic has begun to severely limit access to sexual and reproductive healthcare, including contraception and safe abortion care (SAC), which have h...
Conference Material
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Video

Overcoming barriers to provision of safe abortion care in MSF projects: Task Force approach

Kumar M
2019-05-10 • MSF Scientific Days International 2019
2019-05-10 • MSF Scientific Days International 2019
Journal Blog
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Perspective

Overcoming inaction and increasing access to safe abortion care: MSF experience

Fotheringham C, Kumar M, Schulte-Hillen C
2019-03-04 • PLoS Blogs
2019-03-04 • PLoS Blogs
On International Women's Day 2019, the authors discuss recent efforts by MSF to improve access to safe abortion care worldwide.
Journal Article
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Letter

Why Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) provides safe abortion care and what that involves

Schulte-Hillen C, Staderini N, Saint-Sauveur JF
2016-09-21 • Conflict and Health
2016-09-21 • Conflict and Health
MSF responds to needs for the termination of pregnancy, including on request (TPR); it is part of the organization's work aimed at reducing maternal mortality and suffering; and preventi...

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World Malaria Day 2022
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Diphtheria
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Mini-Lab—MSF's simplified bacteriology laboratory for low-resource settings

Mini-Lab—MSF's simplified bacteriology laboratory for low-resource settings
Resistance to antibiotics is a growing public health crisis, especially in countries with fragile health systems and in regions at war. One key limitation in most of these settings is a lack of clinical bacteriology laboratory capacity, which leaves medical providers without ways to accurately diagnose patient infections and to tailor antibiotic treatment accordingly. To help fill this critical gap, MSF and partners have developed the Mini-Lab—a small-scale, standalone lab that is easy to transport, set up and operate by staff after only a short training. Its six modules are stocked with everything needed to diagnose common bloodstream and urinary tract infections and to perform antibiotic sensitivity testing using methods adapted to extremely hot climates and remote settings. With Mini-Lab now being rolled out to selected MSF projects, here we highlight the background to its development and some of the research behind the bacteriological tests it incorporates.
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International Safe Abortion Day 2022

International Safe Abortion Day 2022