Methods women use for induced abortion and sources of services: insights from poor urban settlements of Accra, Ghana.
BMC Womens Health
; 21(1): 300, 2021 08 16.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34399739
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Increasing access to safe abortion methods is crucial for improving women's health. Understanding patterns of service use is important for identifying areas for improvement. Limited evidence is available in Ghana on factors associated with the type of method used to induce abortion. This paper examined the methods and sources of services used for abortion by women living in poor urban settings of Accra.METHODS:
Data are from a survey that was conducted in 2018 among 1233 women aged 16-44 years who reported ever having had an induced abortion. We estimated a multinomial logistic regression model to examine factors associated with the type of abortion methods women used. We further generated descriptive statistics for the source of abortion services.RESULTS:
About 50% women used surgical procedures for their last abortion, 28% used medication abortion (MA), 12% used other pills, 3% used injection, and 7% used non-medical methods. However, nearly half (46%) of the women who terminated a pregnancy within the year preceding the survey used medication abortion (MA), 32% used surgical procedures, while 5% used non-medical methods. Women who terminated a pregnancy within three years preceding the survey had a 60% lower chance of using surgical procedures if they did not use MA compared to those who terminated a pregnancy more than 3 years before the survey (Relative Risk Ratio [RRR] 0.4; 95% CI 0.3-0.5). The vast majority (74%) of women who used MA obtained services from pharmacies.CONCLUSIONS:
The use of MA pills to terminate pregnancies has increased in recent years in Ghana and these pills are mostly accessed from pharmacies. This suggests a need for a review of the national guidelines to include pharmacists and chemists in the provision of MA services.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Aborto Induzido
Tipo de estudo:
Etiology_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Qualitative_research
Limite:
Female
/
Humans
/
Pregnancy
País/Região como assunto:
Africa
Idioma:
En
Revista:
BMC Womens Health
Assunto da revista:
SAUDE DA MULHER
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Gana