Abortion as agentive action: reproductive agency among young women seeking post-abortion care in Uganda.

Unsafe abortion in Africa continues to be a major contributor to the global maternal mortality which affects young women in particular. In Uganda, where abortion is legally restricted and stigmatised, unsafe abortion is a major public health issue. We explored reproductive agency in relation to unsafe abortion among young women seeking post-abortion care. Through in-depth interviews we found that reproductive agency was constrained by gender norms and power imbalances and strongly influenced by stigma. Lack of resources and the need for secrecy resulted in harmful abortion practices and delayed care-seeking. Women did not claim ownership of the abortion decision, but the underlying meaning in the narratives positioned abortion as an agentive action aiming to regain control over one's body and future. Women's experiences shaped contraceptive intentions and discourse, creating a window of opportunity that was often missed. This study provides unique insight into how young women negotiate and enact reproductive agency in Uganda. Health systems need to strengthen their efforts to meet young women's sexual and reproductive health needs and protect their rights. Enabling young women's agency through access to safe abortion and contraception is paramount.

Barriers to male involvement in contraceptive uptake and reproductive health services: a qualitative study of men and women's perceptions in two rural districts in Uganda.

BACKGROUND: Spousal communication can improve family planning use and continuation. Yet, in countries with high fertility rates and unmet need, men have often been regarded as unsupportive of their partner's use of family planning methods. This study examines men and women's perceptions regarding obstacles to men's support and uptake of modern contraceptives. METHODS: A qualitative study using 18 focus group discussions (FGDs) with purposively selected men aged 15-54 and women aged 15-49 as well as eight key informant interviews (KIIs) with government and community leaders was conducted in 2012 in Bugiri and Mpigi Districts, Uganda. Open-ended question guides were used to explore men and women's perceptions regarding barriers to men's involvement in reproductive health. All FGDs and KIIs were recorded, translated, and transcribed verbatim. Transcripts were coded and analyzed thematically using ATLAS.ti. RESULTS: Five themes were identified as rationale for men's limited involvement: (i) perceived side effects of female contraceptive methods which disrupt sexual activity, (ii) limited choices of available male contraceptives, including fear and concerns relating to vasectomy, (iii) perceptions that reproductive health was a woman's domain due to gender norms and traditional family planning communication geared towards women, (iv) preference for large family sizes which are uninhibited by prolonged birth spacing; and (v) concerns that women's use of contraceptives will lead to extramarital sexual relations. In general, knowledge of effective contraceptive methods was high. However, lack of time and overall limited awareness regarding the specific role of men in reproductive health was also thought to deter men's meaningful involvement in issues related to fertility regulation. CONCLUSION: Decision-making on contraceptive use is the shared responsibility of men and women. Effective development and implementation of male-involvement family planning initiatives should address barriers to men's supportive participation in reproductive health, including addressing men's negative beliefs regarding contraceptive services.

Increasing access to institutional deliveries using demand and supply side incentives: early results from a quasi-experimental study.

BACKGROUND: Geographical inaccessibility, lack of transport, and financial burdens are some of the demand side constraints to maternal health services in Uganda, while supply side problems include poor quality services related to unmotivated health workers and inadequate supplies. Most public health interventions in Uganda have addressed only selected supply side issues, and universities have focused their efforts on providing maternal services at tertiary hospitals. To demonstrate how reforms at Makerere University College of Health Sciences (MakCHS) can lead to making systemic changes that can improve maternal health services, a demand and supply side strategy was developed by working with local communities and national stakeholders. METHODS: This quasi-experimental trial is conducted in two districts in Eastern Uganda. The supply side component includes health worker refresher training and additions of minimal drugs and supplies, whereas the demand side component involves vouchers given to pregnant women for motorcycle transport and the payment to service providers for antenatal, delivery, and postnatal care. The trial is ongoing, but early analysis from routine health information systems on the number of services used is presented. RESULTS: Motorcyclists in the community organized themselves to accept vouchers in exchange for transport for antenatal care, deliveries and postnatal care, and have become actively involved in ensuring that women obtain care. Increases in antenatal, delivery, and postnatal care were demonstrated, with the number of safe deliveries in the intervention area immediately jumping from <200 deliveries/month to over 500 deliveries/month in the intervention arm. Voucher revenues have been used to obtain needed supplies to improve quality and to pay health workers, ensuring their availability at a time when workloads are increasing. CONCLUSIONS: Transport and service vouchers appear to be a viable strategy for rapidly increasing maternal care. MakCHS can design strategies together with stakeholders using a learning-by-doing approach to take advantage of community resources.

Morality versus duty - A qualitative study exploring midwives' perspectives on post-abortion care in Uganda.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to explore midwives' perspectives on post-abortion care (PAC) in Uganda. Specifically, we sought to improve understanding of the quality of care. DESIGN: This was a qualitative study using individual in-depth interviews and an inductive thematic analysis. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Interviews were conducted with 22 midwives (the 'informants') providing PAC in a public hospital in Kampala, Uganda. The narratives were based on experiences in current and previous workplaces, in rural and urban settings. FINDINGS: The findings comprise one main theme - morality versus duty to provide quality post-abortion care - and three sub-themes. Our findings confirm that the midwives were committed to saving women's lives but had conflicting personal morality in relation to abortion and sense of professional duty, which seemed to influence their quality of care. Midwives were proud to provide PAC, which was described as a natural part of midwifery. However, structural challenges, such as lack of supplies and equipment and high patient loads, hampered provision of good quality care and left informants feeling frustrated. Although abortion was often implied to be immoral, the experience of PAC provision appeared to shape views on legality, leading to an ambiguous, yet more liberal, stance. Abortion stigma was reported to exist within communities and the health workforce, extending to both providers and care-seeking women. Informants had witnessed mistreatment of women seeking care due to abortion complications, through deliberate care delays and denial of pain medication. KEY CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Midwives in PAC were dedicated to saving women's lives; however, conflicting morality and duty and poor working conditions seemed to impede good-quality care. Enabling midwives to provide good quality care includes increasing the patient-midwife ratio and ensuring essential resources are available. Additionally, efforts that de-stigmatise abortion and promote accountability are needed. Implementation of policies on respectful post-abortion care could aid in ensuring all women are treated with respect.