Cargando…
The incidence of induced abortion in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, 2016
BACKGROUND: In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the penal code prohibits the provision of abortion. In practice, however, it is widely accepted that the procedure can be performed to save the life of a pregnant woman. Although abortion is highly restricted, anecdotal evidence indicates that women o...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2017
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5624571/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28968414 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0184389 |
_version_ | 1783268253408165888 |
---|---|
author | Chae, Sophia Kayembe, Patrick K. Philbin, Jesse Mabika, Crispin Bankole, Akinrinola |
author_facet | Chae, Sophia Kayembe, Patrick K. Philbin, Jesse Mabika, Crispin Bankole, Akinrinola |
author_sort | Chae, Sophia |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the penal code prohibits the provision of abortion. In practice, however, it is widely accepted that the procedure can be performed to save the life of a pregnant woman. Although abortion is highly restricted, anecdotal evidence indicates that women often resort to clandestine abortions, many of which are unsafe. However, to date, there are no official statistics or reliable data to support this assertion. OBJECTIVES: Our study provides the first estimates of the incidence of abortion and unintended pregnancy in Kinshasa. METHODS: We applied the Abortion Incidence Complications Method (AICM) to estimate the incidence of abortion and unintended pregnancy. We used data from a Health Facilities Survey and a Prospective Morbidity Survey to determine the annual number of women treated for abortion complications at health facilities. We also employed data from a Health Professionals Survey to calculate a multiplier representing the number of abortions for every induced abortion complication treated in a health facility. RESULTS: In 2016, an estimated 37,865 women obtained treatment for induced abortion complications in health facilities in Kinshasa. For every woman treated in a facility, almost four times as many abortions occurred. In total, an estimated 146,713 abortions were performed, yielding an abortion rate of 56 per 1,000 women aged 15–49. Furthermore, more than 343,000 unintended pregnancies occurred, resulting in an unintended pregnancy rate of 147 per 1,000 women aged 15–49. CONCLUSIONS: Increasing contraceptive uptake can reduce the number of women who experience unintended pregnancies, and as a consequence, result in fewer women obtaining unsafe abortions, suffering abortion complications, and dying needlessly from unsafe abortion. Increasing access to safe abortion and improving post-abortion care are other measures that can be implemented to reduce unsafe abortion and/or its negative consequences, including maternal mortality. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-5624571 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2017 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-56245712017-10-17 The incidence of induced abortion in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, 2016 Chae, Sophia Kayembe, Patrick K. Philbin, Jesse Mabika, Crispin Bankole, Akinrinola PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the penal code prohibits the provision of abortion. In practice, however, it is widely accepted that the procedure can be performed to save the life of a pregnant woman. Although abortion is highly restricted, anecdotal evidence indicates that women often resort to clandestine abortions, many of which are unsafe. However, to date, there are no official statistics or reliable data to support this assertion. OBJECTIVES: Our study provides the first estimates of the incidence of abortion and unintended pregnancy in Kinshasa. METHODS: We applied the Abortion Incidence Complications Method (AICM) to estimate the incidence of abortion and unintended pregnancy. We used data from a Health Facilities Survey and a Prospective Morbidity Survey to determine the annual number of women treated for abortion complications at health facilities. We also employed data from a Health Professionals Survey to calculate a multiplier representing the number of abortions for every induced abortion complication treated in a health facility. RESULTS: In 2016, an estimated 37,865 women obtained treatment for induced abortion complications in health facilities in Kinshasa. For every woman treated in a facility, almost four times as many abortions occurred. In total, an estimated 146,713 abortions were performed, yielding an abortion rate of 56 per 1,000 women aged 15–49. Furthermore, more than 343,000 unintended pregnancies occurred, resulting in an unintended pregnancy rate of 147 per 1,000 women aged 15–49. CONCLUSIONS: Increasing contraceptive uptake can reduce the number of women who experience unintended pregnancies, and as a consequence, result in fewer women obtaining unsafe abortions, suffering abortion complications, and dying needlessly from unsafe abortion. Increasing access to safe abortion and improving post-abortion care are other measures that can be implemented to reduce unsafe abortion and/or its negative consequences, including maternal mortality. Public Library of Science 2017-10-02 /pmc/articles/PMC5624571/ /pubmed/28968414 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0184389 Text en © 2017 Chae et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Chae, Sophia Kayembe, Patrick K. Philbin, Jesse Mabika, Crispin Bankole, Akinrinola The incidence of induced abortion in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, 2016 |
title | The incidence of induced abortion in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, 2016 |
title_full | The incidence of induced abortion in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, 2016 |
title_fullStr | The incidence of induced abortion in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, 2016 |
title_full_unstemmed | The incidence of induced abortion in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, 2016 |
title_short | The incidence of induced abortion in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, 2016 |
title_sort | incidence of induced abortion in kinshasa, democratic republic of congo, 2016 |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5624571/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28968414 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0184389 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT chaesophia theincidenceofinducedabortioninkinshasademocraticrepublicofcongo2016 AT kayembepatrickk theincidenceofinducedabortioninkinshasademocraticrepublicofcongo2016 AT philbinjesse theincidenceofinducedabortioninkinshasademocraticrepublicofcongo2016 AT mabikacrispin theincidenceofinducedabortioninkinshasademocraticrepublicofcongo2016 AT bankoleakinrinola theincidenceofinducedabortioninkinshasademocraticrepublicofcongo2016 AT chaesophia incidenceofinducedabortioninkinshasademocraticrepublicofcongo2016 AT kayembepatrickk incidenceofinducedabortioninkinshasademocraticrepublicofcongo2016 AT philbinjesse incidenceofinducedabortioninkinshasademocraticrepublicofcongo2016 AT mabikacrispin incidenceofinducedabortioninkinshasademocraticrepublicofcongo2016 AT bankoleakinrinola incidenceofinducedabortioninkinshasademocraticrepublicofcongo2016 |