IPPF launches free online medical abortion course

• Course comes as World Health Organisation (WHO) issues new guidelines on abortion care and will help put the WHO guidelines into practice globally
• Training co-created with How To Use Abortion Pill
• Training course complete with quizzes and an option to download a certificate upon successful completion
• Training endorsed by the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO)
• Over 25 million unsafe abortions  occur each year
• Between 2015 and 2019 in Nigeria, there were 10,500,000 pregnancies annually. Of these, 2,990,000 pregnancies were unintended and 1,430,000 ended in abortion

Lagos, 20th September 2022 – International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and HowToUseAbortionPill.org have developed a free online medical abortion training course to equip healthcare workers with the necessary skills to provide care for women seeking medical abortion up to 13 weeks gestation. The course is aimed at the full range of providers, including physicians, midwives, pharmacists, medical students and community health workers.

The course, which has been endorsed by the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), is a seven-lesson video series accessible via the link https://elearning.howtouseabortionpill.org. It covers an overview of abortion care; how to support a medical abortion; symptoms, side effects and complications; and aftercare. It is framed around four principles of care: person-centred care, rights-based care, quality, and privacy and confidentiality.

“Abortion care continues to be left off medical training curriculums,” said Mallah Tabot, Lead SRHR Programming at IPPF Africa Region. “This online course will fill a critical gap in the education of many health workers. It has the potential to significantly increase the number of health workers with the skills and knowledge to provide abortion care, especially in low-resource settings, and thereby increase the number of women supported to safely end a pregnancy.”

Medical abortion is a  non-invasive method using a combination of two pills – mifepristone and misoprostol – or misoprostol alone.  Medical abortion is safe and effective and is recommended by the Word Health Organisation (WHO).

Unsafe abortion remains a serious global threat to women’s health and safety, causing an estimated 7 million hospitalizations and up to 13% of all maternal deaths worldwide each year.

Between 2015 and 2019 in Nigeria, there were a total of 10,500,000 pregnancies annually. Of these, 2,990,000 pregnancies were unintended and 1,430,000 ended in abortion. Abortion in Nigeria is legal to save a pregnant person’s life. However, a majority of abortions in the country are carried out by unqualified practitioners who run unsafe clinics.

“Research shows that when women cannot access safe abortion care, they often seek unsafe methods,” said Rebecca Wilkins, Technical Lead, Abortion at IPPF. “This training course provides the information and resources necessary for health workers to support women who choose to have a safe abortion with pills in early pregnancy either within or outside a clinical setting.”

The course is hosted on a login-based web portal which can be accessed from desktop or mobile and is structured to be an interactive learning experience, complete with quizzes and an option to download a certificate upon successful completion. In March this year, WHO issued new guidelines on abortion care.  The updated guidelines contain more than 50 recommendations covering clinical practice, health service delivery, and policy and legal actions including ensuring access to quality medical abortion pills. The new online training course is aligned to the clinical protocols recommended in the WHO guidelines.

For further information, download the media kit HERE or contact:

PR Consultant
Njeri Wangari               Tel: +254 (0)722353657, e-mail: wangaripr@kenyanpoet.com

IPPF:

Mahmoud Garga                       Tel.   +254 (0) 704626920, e-mail: mgarga@ippf.org  

Catherine Kilfedder                   e-mail: ckilfedder@ippf.org

About IPPF

The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) is a global healthcare provider and a leading advocate of sexual and reproductive health and rights for all. We are a worldwide Federation of national organizations working with and for communities and individuals in more than 140 countries.