AFRICA – The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned about the rise in unsafe abortions which are putting at risk the lives of many women in Africa and other low-income countries.
Unsafe abortions cause around 39,000 fatalities every year and results in millions of women hospitalized with complications arising from the uncertified procedures which is a major concern especially in Africa.
According to WHO, over 60 per cent of deaths from abortion occur in Africa while 30 per cent occur in Asia and among those living in the most vulnerable situations.
With the number of fatalities on the rise, the World Health Organization has argued that restricting access to abortions does not reduce the number of abortions that take place in the continent.
The global health body is now calling for countries to allow access to quality abortion care which is safe and effective when delivered by health workers with the right skills, resources and information.
In addition, quality abortion is also safe when accessible to all those that need it at timely moment since it is respectful of women and girls’ needs and rights.
Geneva-based WHO has now issued new guidelines on abortion care consolidating new recommendations as well as updates on existing abortion care edition released in 2012.
It hopes that the new recommendations will help prevent more than 25 million unsafe abortions that currently occur yearly.
The body recommends that women and girls should access abortion and family planning services when they need the services since nearly every death or injury resulting from unsafe abortion is entirely preventable.
Acting Director of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research at the WHO, Craig Lissner highlighted that the consolidated guidelines brought together more than 50 recommendations ranging from clinical practice and health service delivery to legal and policy interventions.
He emphasized that the guidelines are based on the latest scientific evidence hence when abortion is carried out at the appropriate duration of pregnancy and assisted by someone with the necessary information, it is a simple and extremely safe procedure.
“The new recommendations on simple primary care level interventions include task sharing by a wider range of health workers and ensuring access to medical abortion pills,” outlined Craig Lissner.
He stressed that the recommendation targets at more women obtaining safe abortion services since accurate information on care is available to all those who need it.
The guidelines also encompass recommendations for use where telemedicine is appropriate which helps support access to abortion and family planning services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Besides the clinical and service delivery recommendations, the guidelines recommend removing medically unnecessary policy barriers to safe abortion such as criminalization and mandatory waiting times,” he further revealed.
Consequently ,WHO has vowed to support interested countries in implementing the new guidelines as well as strengthening national policies and programmes related to contraception.
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