Keeping Our Promise

Keeping Our Promise: Addressing Unsafe Abortion in Africa

Ipas, in collaboration with the African Women’s Development and Communication Network (better known as FEMNET), the Ghana Ministry of Health, the International Planned Parenthood Federation Africa Regional Office, Marie Stopes International and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa sponsored the three-day conference Keeping Our Promise: Addressing Unsafe Abortion in Africa. Held in Accra, Ghana, from November 8-11, 2010 at the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons, the conference focused on unsafe abortion as a critical issue for reproductive health and rights in Africa and for achieving the Millennium Development Goal Five to reduce maternal mortality. More than 230 health-care service providers, advocates, parliamentarians, women’s groups, community members, and allied agencies from across the region gathered to share best practices and lessons learned and shape an agenda for action.

The conference highlighted increased awareness and actions to address unsafe abortion in Africa, the magnitude of which is staggering:

• The impact of this crisis falls disproportionately on African women.
• More than half of the women who die from unsafe abortion in Africa are younger than 25 (WHO 2007).
• Of the five million women globally who are hospitalized with complications from unsafe abortion, more than one million are from Africa (Singh 2006).

Eliminating unsafe abortion in Africa is imperative to fulfill the objectives of the Maputo Plan of Action (The African Union Plan of Action on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights), as well as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and other global and regional commitments.

The conference agenda included:

• Regional and national progress in addressing unsafe abortion as provided in global and regional governmental commitments, including through prevention of unwanted pregnancy, expanded access to safe abortion services and policy reform.
• Lessons from research and experience that can improve service access and quality for safe abortion, postabortion care and related reproductive health care.
• Discussion of an agenda for action for the African region and ways to improve collaboration among governments, NGOs and other stakeholders.