N.C. Public Radio Profiles Efforts To Reduce Unsafe Abortion, Maternal Mortality In Zambia

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology;  Nursing / Midwifery;  Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 16 Mar 2009 - 2:00 PDT

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North Carolina Public Radio/WUNC this week examined maternal mortality in Zambia and profiled the work of the Chapel Hill, N.C.-based not-for-profit Ipas, which works to help women around the world safely access reproductive health services. The number of women who die during pregnancy or childbirth is 60 to 70 times higher in Zambia than in the U.S., according to North Carolina Public Radio/WUNC. Stephen Mupeta, a gynecologist at University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka, Zambia, said that studies show that unsafe abortion is one of the top five causes of maternal mortality in the country. Mupeta, who received training through Ipas, has trained other health workers to perform safe abortion procedures.

Although abortion is legal in Zambia, there is widespread stigma about the procedure and a common misperception that it is against the law. Iness Kabamba, a midwife at UTH, said that many women seeking abortions turn to traditional healers, who may advise to insert objects into the vagina or to employ other unsafe methods to attempt to end a pregnancy. Kabamba said the majority of her patients are pregnant women who have been bleeding for days or have developed infections after trying to end their pregnancies. Some women take overdoses of drugs or insert wood, glass or battery acid into their vaginas in attempts to induce abortions, she said.

Anu Kumar, vice president of Ipas, said more than one-fourth of women in Zambia say that they want to use birth control but cannot access it. Many women who seek abortions at UTH, which charges $1 for the procedure, already have children and cannot afford another infant. As part of its training protocol, Ipas also teaches providers about post-abortion counseling aimed at preventing future pregnancies. Mupeta said about 70% of patients who have abortions accept the counseling and receive contraception. He added, "[I]t's only when we provide contraceptives and we have adequate sex education that we are going to prevent unprotected sex, prevent unwanted pregnancy and eventually prevent unsafe abortion" (Hoban, North Carolina Public Radio/WUNC, 3/10).

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