ArticleBMC health services research2021
The infrastructural capacity of Ghanaian health facilities to provide safe abortion and post-abortion care: a cross-sectional study.
Article in BMC health services research, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- Strengthening health system capacity for legal termination of pregnancy in Burkina Faso: A quasi-experimental evaluation in public health facilities.International journal of gynaecology and obstetrics: the official organ of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics · 2026Article
- Assessing facility capacity to provide safe abortion and post-abortion care in Liberia: a 2021 signal function survey across 48 public health facilities.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Quality of post-abortion care services in the greater Accra region: connecting the perspectives of service providers and experiences of clients.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- Knowledge of Ghana's liberal abortion law and use of modern contraceptives among women of reproductive age.Reproductive health · 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
- Assessing post-abortion care using the WHO quality of care framework for maternal and newborn health: a cross-sectional study in two African hospitals in humanitarian settings.Reproductive health · 2024Article
- Postabortion and safe abortion care coverage, capacity, and caseloads during the global gag rule policy period in Ethiopia and Uganda.BMC health services research · 2023Article
- Health systems' preparedness to provide post-abortion care: assessment of health facilities in Burkina Faso, Kenya and Nigeria.BMC health services research · 2022Article
- Toward a Standard Measure of Abortion Service Quality-A Stakeholder First Approach.Frontiers in global women's health · 2022Article
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5 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundGhana is one of few countries in sub-Saharan Africa with relatively liberal abortion laws, but little is known about the availability and quality of abortion services nationally. The aim of this study was to describe the availability and capacity of health facilities to deliver essential PAC and SAC services in Ghana.
methodsWe utilized data from a nationally representative survey of Ghanaian health facilities capable of providing post-abortion care (PAC) and/or safe abortion care (SAC) (n = 539). We included 326 facilities that reported providing PAC (57%) or SAC (19%) in the preceding year. We utilized a signal functions approach to evaluate the infrastructural capacity of facilities to provide high quality basic and comprehensive care. We conducted descriptive analysis to estimate the proportion of primary and referral facilities with capacity to provide SAC and PAC and the proportion of SAC and PAC that took place in facilities with greater capacity, and fractional regression to explore factors associated with higher structural capacity for provision.
resultsLess than 20% of PAC and/or SAC providing facilities met all signal function criteria for basic or comprehensive PAC or for comprehensive SAC. Higher PAC caseloads and staff trained in vacuum aspiration was associated with higher capacity to provide PAC in primary and referral facilities, and private/faith-based ownership and rural location was associated with higher capacity to provide PAC in referral facilities. Primary facilities with a rural location were associated with lower basic SAC capacity. DISCUSSION: Overall very few public facilities have the infrastructural capacity to deliver all the signal functions for comprehensive abortion care in Ghana. There is potential to scale-up the delivery of safe abortion care by facilitating service provision all health facilities currently providing postabortion care.
conclusionsSAC provision is much lower than PAC provision overall, yet there are persistent gaps in capacity to deliver basic PAC at primary facilities. These results highlight a need for the Ghana Ministry of Health to improve the infrastructural capability of health facilities to provide comprehensive abortion care.
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