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Title Access to Post Abortion Care (PAC) in Burkina Faso: an ethnographic study
Full text http://www.duo.uio.no/sok/work.html?WORKID=183686
Date 2013
Author(s) Drabo, Seydou
Abstract In Burkina Faso, abortion is permitted only in cases of incest, rape, when the woman's life is in danger or in cases of fetal malformation. Access to safe abortion is therefore legally restricted in Burkina Faso and women often resort to unsafe abortion at great risk to their health and survival. The government has responded to this problem by implemented Post Abortion Care in public health facilities, a harm reduction strategy to prevent deaths from unsafe abortion in countries with restrictive abortion laws. However, access to post abortion Care is limited because of social and structural challenges. The aim of this study is to explore how women who have had an abortion negotiate their access to PAC in Burkina Faso using an ethnographic approach. The findings of the study show that the experience of the PAC involves several and overlapping perceptions and practices of the women, their relatives, and health care providers. These perceptions and practices are constructed by social norms, and by structural and organizational constraints regarding abortion and the provision of PAC. As a consequence, women's access to care is often delayed, and they are also often the victims of a poor quality of care, including discrimination from health care providers who are opposed to abortion. In addition, this study found that health policy on abortion is focused on obstetrics care services and reproductive health services, while the needs of women after an abortion go beyond these services. As a conclusion the study therefore highlights the need for an integrative response across health care services in the supply of PAC.
Subject(s) VDP:751
Language eng
Publisher University Of Oslo
Type of publication Master thesis
Identifier Fulltext http://www.duo.uio.no/sok/work.html?WORKID=183686&fid=110508
Repository Oslo - University of Oslo
Added to C-A: 2014-08-12;13:51:19