ArticleInternational perspectives on sexual and reproductive health2020
Assessing Readiness to Provide Comprehensive Abortion Care in the Democratic Republic of the Congo After Passage of the Maputo Protocol.
Article in International perspectives on sexual and reproductive health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- Integration of contraception provision in emergency obstetric and neonatal care: A scoping review.International journal of gynaecology and obstetrics: the official organ of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics · 2026Article
- Research capacity-building of midwives expanding access to safe abortion in the Democratic Republic of Congo: transnational research collaborations with civil society organizations.Global health action · 2025Article
- Measuring availability of and facility readiness to deliver comprehensive abortion care: experiences and lessons learnt from integrating abortion into WHO's health facility assessments.BMJ global health · 2024Review
- Abortion Incidence among Young Women in Urban Slums and Non-Slums in Kinshasa, DR Congo.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Abortion information-seeking experiences among women who obtained abortions in Kinshasa, DRC: Results from a qualitative study.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Close female friendships and knowledge of recommended abortion methods in Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo among a representative sample of reproductive-aged women.Frontiers in reproductive health · 2024Article
- Expanding access to safe abortion in DRC: charting the path from decriminalisation to accessible care.Sexual and reproductive health matters · 2023Review
- Estimating induced abortion incidence and the use of non-recommended abortion methods and sources in two provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa and Kongo Central) in 2021: results from population-based, cross-sectional surveys of reproductive-aged women.Sexual and reproductive health matters · 2023Article
- Postabortion care availability, readiness, and accessibility in Niger in 2022: results from linked facility-female cross-sectional data.BMC health services research · 2023Article
- Abortion care availability, readiness, and access: linking population and health facility data in Kinshasa and Kongo Central, DRC.BMC health services research · 2023Article
- Reducing maternal and neonatal mortality through integrated and sustainability-focused programming in Zambia.PLOS global public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
contextThe Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) decriminalized abortion under certain circumstances in 2018 through the Maputo Protocol. However, little is known about the readiness of the country's health facilities to provide comprehensive abortion care.
methodsData on 1,380 health facilities from the 2017-2018 DRC Service Provision Assessment (SPA) inventory survey were used to assess readiness to provide abortion care in four domains: termination of pregnancy, basic treatment of postabortion complications, comprehensive treatment of postabortion complications and postabortion contraceptive care. Analyses used a modified application of the emergency obstetric care signal function approach; criteria for readiness were based on World Health Organization guidelines.
resultsThirty-one percent of DRC facilities met the criteria for readiness to provide abortions. The proportion of facilities classified as ready was higher among urban facilities than rural ones (50% vs. 26%), and among hospitals than health centers or reference health centers (72% vs. 25% and 45%, respectively). Few facilities were ready to provide either basic or comprehensive treatment of postabortion complications (4% and 1%); readiness to provide these services was greatest among hospitals (14% and 11%). Only a third of facilities displayed readiness to provide postabortion contraceptive care. Inadequate supplies of medication (e.g., misoprostol, antibiotics, contraceptives) and equipment were the greatest barrier to readiness.
conclusionsMost DRC facilities were not ready to provide comprehensive abortion care. Improving supplies of vital health commodities will improve readiness, and has the potential to reduce the prevalence of unplanned pregnancies and future demand for abortions.
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