News / Health
Backstreet abortions on the rise fivefold in Zimbabwe
21 Jun 2014 at 10:49hrs | Views
A recent study shows that between 60,000 and 80,000 unsafe abortions are performed in Zimbabwe every year. The number of young women seeking post-abortion care in government and private hospitals is rising at an alarming rate, raising a red flag about the large numbers seeking unsafe abortions from backstreet clinics.
Already this year, over 2,000 young women aged 17 - 25 years have sought post-abortion care services at Harare Hospital. At Parirenyatwa Hospital, the monthly average of those seeking such care has increased from about 70 to over 100 women a month in the past two years, most of them aged from 17 to 26 years.
"On the positive side, these women are seeking medical attention, thus helping to avert deaths. But on the negative side, it shows an increasing number of them are procuring unsafe abortions," said Dr Richard Muraga, who practises at Harare Hospital
The number of women seeking post-abortion care at the hospital's clinics increased fivefold when Health and Child Welfare minister Henry Madzorera said in 2012 that medical staff were no longer required to refer cases of women seeking post-abortion care to the police.
Tip of iceberg
Health professionals are agreed that the statistics are just a small percentage of the magnitude of women opting for unsafe abortion in a desperate move to manage unplanned pregnancies. Many other women, who are unable to afford the cost charged by the hospitals or who arrive when it is too late to save them, are dying.
The country's burden of maternal mortality and the cost of managing complications caused by unsafe abortion is increasing. It is estimated that 30% to 40% of maternal mortality cases are due to unsafe abortion. The number of women dying during delivery increased from 725 deaths for every 100,000 live births in 2012 to 960 in 2013.
Illegal
Common practise is for women wanting abortions to first seek services from unskilled persons who initiate the termination of pregnancy. They then rush to hospital for post-abortion care from qualified medical personnel.
Abortion is illegal under the laws of Zimbabwe unless it is done to save the life of the mother or needed as an emergency treatment. But post-abortion care is very legal and offered by both public and private health facilities.
"When the women come to our clinics bleeding from an unsafe abortion, we do not start by condemning them. We save their lives first before finding out what happened and offering a lasting solution to avoid it recurring," said Muraga.
Thousands of women would have died if professionals did not intervene with post-abortion care in this way.
Dr John Moyo, a gynaecologist at Harare Hospital, said their mission was to stabilise any woman who rushed to the hospital for help, and then to sit down with her to establish the cause of the problem.
"It is worrying that young women are treating sex as a hobby without regard to the consequences of unwanted pregnancies and HIV infection," he said.
Debate raging
Debate is still raging on whether or not to expand the grounds on which women can procure safe abortions in hospitals. Those against the expanded rights say this will make women get abortion on demand.
Those supporting the move say the number of deaths is likely to reduce when women can access safe abortion services. They argue that regardless of prohibitions, women will still go for unsafe abortion services, endangering their lives.
"On some occasions, the young women we have counselled to carry the baby to term come back one or two weeks later insisting they want to have the abortion," says a nurse at health centre in Mufakose. "If you refuse, they go backstreet, and then come back for post-abortion care."
By going for backstreet abortions, it is also an indicator that majority of these women are poor and cannot afford the charges demanded by professional doctors. In some of the leading private hospitals, a doctor charges between $50 - $100 for a safe abortion.
Lack of education
The increased numbers of those seeking post-abortion care further signifies failure by women to access contraceptives and the attendant education to help them prevent unwanted pregnancies.
According to the study, the overall percentage of currently married women aged 15-49 years using any method of family planning stands at only 46 percent. What this means is more than half of all married women are not using contraceptives.
This failure to use contraceptives is happening in an age group statistics show is highly sexually active. About 12 percent of the women aged between 20 and 49 years said they engage in sex before the age of 15, with about 50 per cent having had their first sex by their 18th birthday.
Disturbingly, the same survey found out that of those aged 15-19 years, only 27 percent women and 25 percent men used a condom during their first sex. While only 23 percent women and 27 percent men aged 20-24 did the same.
Misconceptions
These low numbers of condom use partly explains the high numbers of unwanted pregnancies that end up in unsafe abortion and sexually transmitted infections, especially HIV, among these age groups.
Misconception about family planning is one of the reasons being blamed for the low preference for contraceptives by young women and men. Amanda, 19, says she cannot use family planning because the pills will make her gain weight and lose her nice figure.
Many other young women think contraceptives will make them infertile and unable to have children when they get married. Or they may lead to some forms of cancer.
These misconceptions seem to play a significant role in whether or not a woman will use family planning. Those who believe in them engage in unprotected sex and then rush to use emergency pills, which are said to very popular among young women. Unlucky ones end up with unwanted pregnancies and backstreet abortions.
Already this year, over 2,000 young women aged 17 - 25 years have sought post-abortion care services at Harare Hospital. At Parirenyatwa Hospital, the monthly average of those seeking such care has increased from about 70 to over 100 women a month in the past two years, most of them aged from 17 to 26 years.
"On the positive side, these women are seeking medical attention, thus helping to avert deaths. But on the negative side, it shows an increasing number of them are procuring unsafe abortions," said Dr Richard Muraga, who practises at Harare Hospital
The number of women seeking post-abortion care at the hospital's clinics increased fivefold when Health and Child Welfare minister Henry Madzorera said in 2012 that medical staff were no longer required to refer cases of women seeking post-abortion care to the police.
Tip of iceberg
Health professionals are agreed that the statistics are just a small percentage of the magnitude of women opting for unsafe abortion in a desperate move to manage unplanned pregnancies. Many other women, who are unable to afford the cost charged by the hospitals or who arrive when it is too late to save them, are dying.
The country's burden of maternal mortality and the cost of managing complications caused by unsafe abortion is increasing. It is estimated that 30% to 40% of maternal mortality cases are due to unsafe abortion. The number of women dying during delivery increased from 725 deaths for every 100,000 live births in 2012 to 960 in 2013.
Illegal
Common practise is for women wanting abortions to first seek services from unskilled persons who initiate the termination of pregnancy. They then rush to hospital for post-abortion care from qualified medical personnel.
Abortion is illegal under the laws of Zimbabwe unless it is done to save the life of the mother or needed as an emergency treatment. But post-abortion care is very legal and offered by both public and private health facilities.
"When the women come to our clinics bleeding from an unsafe abortion, we do not start by condemning them. We save their lives first before finding out what happened and offering a lasting solution to avoid it recurring," said Muraga.
Thousands of women would have died if professionals did not intervene with post-abortion care in this way.
Dr John Moyo, a gynaecologist at Harare Hospital, said their mission was to stabilise any woman who rushed to the hospital for help, and then to sit down with her to establish the cause of the problem.
"It is worrying that young women are treating sex as a hobby without regard to the consequences of unwanted pregnancies and HIV infection," he said.
Debate raging
Debate is still raging on whether or not to expand the grounds on which women can procure safe abortions in hospitals. Those against the expanded rights say this will make women get abortion on demand.
Those supporting the move say the number of deaths is likely to reduce when women can access safe abortion services. They argue that regardless of prohibitions, women will still go for unsafe abortion services, endangering their lives.
"On some occasions, the young women we have counselled to carry the baby to term come back one or two weeks later insisting they want to have the abortion," says a nurse at health centre in Mufakose. "If you refuse, they go backstreet, and then come back for post-abortion care."
By going for backstreet abortions, it is also an indicator that majority of these women are poor and cannot afford the charges demanded by professional doctors. In some of the leading private hospitals, a doctor charges between $50 - $100 for a safe abortion.
Lack of education
The increased numbers of those seeking post-abortion care further signifies failure by women to access contraceptives and the attendant education to help them prevent unwanted pregnancies.
According to the study, the overall percentage of currently married women aged 15-49 years using any method of family planning stands at only 46 percent. What this means is more than half of all married women are not using contraceptives.
This failure to use contraceptives is happening in an age group statistics show is highly sexually active. About 12 percent of the women aged between 20 and 49 years said they engage in sex before the age of 15, with about 50 per cent having had their first sex by their 18th birthday.
Disturbingly, the same survey found out that of those aged 15-19 years, only 27 percent women and 25 percent men used a condom during their first sex. While only 23 percent women and 27 percent men aged 20-24 did the same.
Misconceptions
These low numbers of condom use partly explains the high numbers of unwanted pregnancies that end up in unsafe abortion and sexually transmitted infections, especially HIV, among these age groups.
Misconception about family planning is one of the reasons being blamed for the low preference for contraceptives by young women and men. Amanda, 19, says she cannot use family planning because the pills will make her gain weight and lose her nice figure.
Many other young women think contraceptives will make them infertile and unable to have children when they get married. Or they may lead to some forms of cancer.
These misconceptions seem to play a significant role in whether or not a woman will use family planning. Those who believe in them engage in unprotected sex and then rush to use emergency pills, which are said to very popular among young women. Unlucky ones end up with unwanted pregnancies and backstreet abortions.
Source - thezimbabwean
