Lived experiences and drivers of induced abortion among women in central Uganda.

Although unsafe abortions are preventable, they are one of the leading causes of maternal mortality and morbidity. Despite the serious potential health consequences, there is limited published information about drivers and challenges of obtaining abortions in restrictive settings such as Uganda. This limits efforts to improve programing for preventing unsafe abortion and providing comprehensive post abortion care.

Identifying gaps and strengthening capacities for abortion research in Ethiopia: Assessment of abortion-research related experiences, skills, and interests.

Collecting accurate and reliable data on abortion is public health imperative, but it is a challenging task that requires specific methods and carefully implemented study designs. This study aimed to assess the institution and individual-level capacity for conducting abortion-related research and identify effective ways to strengthen the capacities of abortion- researchers by filling critical skills and resource gaps. Employing a cross-sectional quantitative and descriptive qualitative research approach, we found that the implementation environment posed challenges, including resistance from religious groups, and individual skill gaps in analyzing abortion data, communication, policy brief preparation, and networking skills.

Impact of the global gag rule on women's contraceptive use and reproductive health outcomes in Ethiopia: a pre-post and difference-in-difference analysis.

Objective: To assess the impacts of the Protecting Life through Global Health Assistance policy (otherwise known as the expanded global gag rule (GGR)) on women's sexual and reproductive health (SRH) in Ethiopia. The GGR prohibits all non-US non-governmental organisations (NGOs) receiving US Government global health funding from providing, referring or advocating for abortion.

Design: Pre-post analysis and difference-in-difference analysis.

Setting Health Targets Using Information from Probabilistic Projections: A Research Brief on an Application to Contraceptive Coverage.

Unlabelled: Broad and aspirational targets to meet health service needs are useful for advocacy, but setting measurable, time-defined targets for accelerated yet feasible progress is necessary for national monitoring and planning purposes. Information from probabilistic projections of health outcomes and service coverage can be used to set country-specific targets that reflect different starting points and rates of change. We show the utility of this approach in an application to contraceptive coverage in 131 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and the related cost and impact of different coverage scenarios.

Postabortion and safe abortion care coverage, capacity, and caseloads during the global gag rule policy period in Ethiopia and Uganda.

Background: Abortion-related complications contribute to preventable maternal mortality, accounting for 9.8% of maternal deaths globally, and 15.6% in sub-Saharan Africa.

Impact of the Trump Administration's Expanded Global Gag Rule Policy on Family Planning Service Provision in Ethiopia.

The Global Gag Rule (GGR) makes non-U.S. nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) ineligible for U.

Budgeting for comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights under universal health coverage.

Achieving universal health coverage (UHC) for sexual and reproductive health (SRH) requires informed budgeting that is aligned with UHC objectives. We draw data from to provide critical new country-level and regional, intervention-specific costs for the provision of SRH services. AIU-2019 is a cost-outcomes analysis, undertaken from the health system perspective, which estimates the costs and impacts of offering SRH care in low- and middle-income countries.

Estimating abortion incidence and unintended pregnancy among adolescents in Zimbabwe, 2016: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: To estimate age-specific abortion incidence and unintended pregnancy in Zimbabwe, and to examine differences among adolescents by marital status and residence.

Design: We used a variant of the Abortion Incidence Complications Methodology, an indirect estimation approach, to estimate age-specific abortion incidence. We used three surveys: the Health Facility Survey, a census of 227 facilities that provide postabortion care (PAC); the Health Professional Survey, a purposive sample of key informants knowledgeable about abortion (n=118) and the Prospective Morbidity Survey of PAC patients (n=1002).

Evaluating the quality and coverage of post-abortion care in Zimbabwe: a cross-sectional study with a census of health facilities.

Background: An estimated 65,000 abortions occurred in Zimbabwe in 2016, and 40 % resulted in complications that required treatment. Quality post-abortion care (PAC) services are essential to treat abortion complications and prevent future unintended pregnancies, and there have been recent national efforts to improve PAC provision. This study evaluates two components of quality of care: structural quality, using PAC signal functions, a monitoring framework of key life-saving interventions that treat abortion complications; and process quality, which examines the standards of care provided to PAC patients.

Not all inequalities are equal: differences in coverage across the continuum of reproductive health services.

Reducing inequalities in health service coverage is central to achieving the larger goal of universal health coverage. Reproductive health services are part of evidence-based health interventions that comprise a minimum set of essential health interventions that all countries should be able to provide. This paper shows patterns in inequalities in three essential reproductive health services that span a continuum of care-contraceptive use, antenatal care during pregnancy and delivery at a health facility.

Correction: Abortion in Zimbabwe: A national study of the incidence of induced abortion, unintended pregnancy and post-abortion care in 2016.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Pregnancy and early motherhood among adolescents in five East African countries: a multi-level analysis of risk and protective factors.

Background: Adolescent pregnancy remains a major challenge in both developed and developing countries. Early and unintended pregnancies among adolescents are associated with several adverse health, educational, social and economic outcomes. The aim of this study was to identify the contextual factors that influence adolescent pregnancy and early motherhood in five East African countries.

Abortion in Zimbabwe: A national study of the incidence of induced abortion, unintended pregnancy and post-abortion care in 2016.

Background: Zimbabwe has the highest contraceptive prevalence rate in sub-Saharan Africa, but also one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in the world. Little is known, however, about the incidence of abortion and post-abortion care (PAC) in Zimbabwe. Access to legal abortion is rare, and limited to circumstances of rape, incest, fetal impairment, or to save the woman's life.

Estimating abortion incidence among adolescents and differences in postabortion care by age: a cross-sectional study of postabortion care patients in Uganda.

Objectives: To provide the first estimate of adolescents' abortion incidence in Uganda and to assess differences in the abortion experiences and morbidities of adolescent and nonadolescent postabortion care (PAC) patients.

Study Design: We used the age-specific Abortion Incidence Complications Method, drawing from three surveys conducted in Uganda in 2013: a nationally representative Health Facilities Survey (n=418), a Health Professionals Survey (n=147) and a Prospective Morbidity Survey of PAC patients (n=2169). Multivariable logistic and Cox proportional hazard models were used to compare adolescent and nonadolescent PAC patients on dimensions including pregnancy intention, gestational age, abortion safety, delays to care, severity of complications and receipt of postabortion family planning.

Severity and management of postabortion complications among women in Zimbabwe, 2016: a cross-sectional study.

Objectives: Abortion complications cause significant morbidity and mortality. We aimed to assess the severity and factors associated with abortion complications (induced or spontaneous), and the management of postabortion care (PAC) in Zimbabwe.

Design: Prospective, facility-based 28 day survey among women seeking PAC and their providers.