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Safe abortion care at MSF | Collections | MSF Science Portal

Unsafe abortion is a major 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 29,000 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.


To mark International Safe Abortion Awareness Day (28 September 2024), this Collection presents highlights of MSF’s work on safe abortion care (SAC) as a way to reduce maternal death and injury. By re-assessing and reshaping how our projects deliver SAC in fragile and conflict-affected settings, we have been able to significantly expand services in those contexts and across MSF projects globally. In parallel, we also conducted in-depth studies of abortion complications and their contributing factors in fragile settings, where a dearth of evidence limits understanding of women's needs in accessing comprehensive care. These findings are helping to identify gaps in service delivery and inform operational decision-making.

Collection Content

Journal Article
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Research

Self-managed abortion as a humanitarian revolution: Accounts of a telehealth pilot in the Middle East

Lasserre L, Staderini N, Hasan M, Rossi V
2025-02-11 • Conflict and Health
2025-02-11 • Conflict and Health

BACKGROUND

Access to safe abortion care (SAC) should be improved in fragile and humanitarian settings, and the implementation of interventions in that regard ar...

Journal Article
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Research

Assessing post-abortion care using the WHO quality of care framework for maternal and newborn health: a cross-sectional study in two African hospitals in humanitarian settings

Pasquier E, Owolabi OO, Powell B, Fetters T, Ngbale R,  et al.
2024-08-05 • Reproductive Health
2024-08-05 • Reproductive Health

BACKGROUND

Abortion-related complications remain a main cause of maternal mortality. There is little evidence on the availability and quality of post-abortion c...

Journal Article
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Research

Reasons for delay in reaching healthcare with severe abortion-related morbidities: Qualitative results from women in the fragile context of Jigawa state, Nigeria (AMoCo)

Moore AM, Fetters T, Williams T, Pasquier E, Kantiok J,  et al.
2023-12-01 • SSM - Qualitative Research in Health
2023-12-01 • SSM - Qualitative Research in Health
Maternal near-miss events are a key measure of maternal health; abortion-related complications are one source of near-miss events. To understand the pathway to care of women with severe ...
Technical Report
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Evidence Brief

The magnitude and severity of abortion-related complications: Referral Hospital in Jigawa State, a fragile setting - Results of the AMoCo study

Fotheringham C, Moore AM, Owolabi OO, Fetters T, Chen H,  et al.
2023-08-01
2023-08-01

A dearth of evidence on abortion complications in fragile settings limits the understanding of women’s needs in access to comprehensive abortion care in contexts like Jigawa state. Th...

Journal Article
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Pre-Print

Lessons learned conducting abortion research in fragile contexts: Reflections from a mixed methods study in Africa (the AMoCo study)

Moore AM, Pasquier E, Williams TN, Fetters T, Powell B,  et al.
2023-03-20 • Research Square
2023-03-20 • Research Square
BACKGROUND
Conducting abortion research in fragile settings presents challenges, many of which are present in other low-resourced settings to various degrees but when appearing all t...
Journal Article
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Research

High severity of abortion complications in fragile and conflict-affected settings: a cross-sectional study in two referral hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa (AMoCo study)

Pasquier E, Owolabi OO, Fetters T, Ngbale RN, Adame Gbanzi MC,  et al.
2023-03-04 • BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
2023-03-04 • BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
BACKGROUND
Abortion-related complications are one of the five main causes of maternal mortality. However, research about abortion is very limited in fragile and conflict-affected set...
Journal Article
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Research

Catalyst for change: Lessons learned from overcoming barriers to providing safe abortion care in Médecins Sans Frontières projects

Kumar M, Schulte-Hillen C, De Plecker E, Van Haver A, Marques SG,  et al.
2022-10-23 • Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health
2022-10-23 • Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health
CONTEXT
Despite instituting a policy in 2004, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) continuously struggled to routinely provide safe abortion care (SAC). In 2016, the organization launched ...
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
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 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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Medical and humanitarian harms of restrictive European migration policies

Medical and humanitarian harms of restrictive European migration policies
Conflict, persecution, poverty, food insecurity and natural disasters—increasingly fueled by climate change—continue to drive migration globally. Yet many wealthy countries are doubling down on hostile policies to prevent people from seeking safety within their borders, thereby subjecting them to a wide range of harms. In a newly-published report MSF focuses on European Union and member state policies that intensify exposure to violence, exploitation, risk of drowning at sea, disease, and lack of access to basic health care and shelter, both within European Union borders and beyond. The Collection linked below presents this report alongside selected publications illustrating the broader context, based on quantitative studies and accounts from MSF patients and medical teams over nearly a decade of operational experience along the European migration route. From violent, squalid detention centers in Libya— where people intercepted by the EU-supported Libyan coast guard are forcibly returned —to perilous Mediterranean crossings in flimsy rubber boats and often abysmal reception centers and camps within the EU, it documents how these policies and practices further harm highly vulnerable people seeking safety and protection.
Diabetes care in humanitarian settings

Diabetes care in humanitarian settings
Diabetes affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide, a large majority of them living in low- and middle-income countries. Yet finding effective strategies, tools and policies for effectively managing this chronic illness—especially amid war, displacement or exclusion from care—is a neglected area of humanitarian medicine. Here we present a cross-section of work on this front by MSF and collaborators. Several studies assess the shift towards community-based, nurse-led models of care in rural settings. Others explore obstacles to diabetes care for war refugees living in camps in Jordan or Lebanon, highlighting how health programs can adapt to their needs. The demonstration that insulin retains potency for 30 days if cooled without refrigeration is opening doors to more patient self-management, as a case study in remote South Sudan shows. At the same time, MSF and others call for regulatory and financing policies that make diabetes medications and supplies cheaper, better adapted to humanitarian settings, and far more available to patients whose lives depend on them.
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Safe abortion care at MSF

Safe abortion care at MSF