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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Victor Huapaya, MD1, Janie Benson, MPH2, Hector Verastegui3, and Jorge Parra, MD3. (1) Ipas, 300 Market Street, Suite 200, Chapel Hill, NC NC 27516, (919)960-5570, huapayav@ipas.org, (2) Division of Health Systems Research, Ipas, 300 Market Street, Suite 200, Chapel Hill, NC 27516, (3) Ipas PERU, Rio de la Plata 170 - Dpto 602, Lima, Lima 27, Peru
Equity in access to effective, safe, timely and women-centered abortion related services is a public health priority. Measurement of progress requires efforts to assess PAC services at a national level. This kind of information is largely non-existent in most developing world countries. This paper presents results from a national “rapid assessment” designed to evaluate quantity, quality and geographic distribution of public postabortion care (PAC) services in Peru.
To determine PAC service availability, study investigators collected data from 30 of the 33 MOH Administrative Health Units in Peru. In a subsequent convenience sample of 31 individual facilities, researchers assessed overall service quality, using a simple checklist format.
Results showed that 26,934 postabortion patients were treated in 206 MOH facilities during year 2000, primarily in health centers. This estimate is 339 % higher than the last annual (1997) PAC patient caseload captured by the existing MOH information system. The majority of facilities offering PAC attended one or fewer patients a month. Services were unequally distributed, with PAC services unavailable in 46% of all provinces.
Manual vacuum aspiration for uterine evacuation was available in 16% of 206 facilities surveyed and was utilized for over one-half of PAC patients. Thirty-four percent of PAC patients received a contraceptive method prior to leaving the health care facility. Average patient fee for treatment was US $ 22 (rage: from $6 to $100) per case.
The study findings underscore current problems in PAC services and justify for allocation of increased resources to improve access and quality.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session the participant will be able to
Related Web page: www.ipas.org
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Ms Benson and Dr. Huapaya are employees of Ipas, a non-profit international reproductive health organization. Ipas provide technical assistance in training, service delivery, research and policy, and produces and distributes manual vacuum aspiration instr