Authors : Akinola Oluwarotimi Ireti, Fabamwo Adetokunbo Olusegun, Tayo Adetokunbo Olufela, Alokha Mercy, Oshodi Yussuf Abisowo and O. Osinusi Bamidele
Abstract: Postabortion care is a strategy for reducing the major contribution of unsafe abortion to maternal mortality. Its deployment has been lukewarm in many developing countries and an appraisal of the patients and factors that might hinder its uptake would be worthwhile to reduce the incidence of unsafe abortion. Questionnaires were applied to 435 patients who presented at the emergency ward with complications of unsafe abortion. Information sought included socio-demographic details, past obstetric history, reasons for procuring abortion, method, place and pedigree of the abortionist. Others were perception of the abortion process, knowledge of postabortion care and attitude to its various components. About 72% of the respondents were educated, 56% were married while 75.5% had experienced an abortion before the index case. About 64% did not employ any contraception in between the abortions due to various misconceptions while 94% regarded abortion as an acceptable mode of contraception. Almost half of respondents believed that contraception could predispose to infertility. These findings highlight that major components of postabortion care were deficient and will need to be incorporated into practice to attain the MDG 5.
Akinola Oluwarotimi Ireti, Fabamwo Adetokunbo Olusegun, Tayo Adetokunbo Olufela, Alokha Mercy, Oshodi Yussuf Abisowo and O. Osinusi Bamidele, 2010. Unsafe Abortion and Post Abortion Care: Patients Profile and Perceptions in Lagos, Nigeria. Research Journal of Medical Sciences, 4: 170-174.