Quality Improvement Approach Increases Use of Contraceptives among Postabortion Care Clients in Togo

November 08, 2016Five health facilities in Togo drastically improved family planning services for and increased use among clients seeking care for postabortion complications, thanks to IntraHealth International ’s signature quality-improvement approach:Optimizing Performance and Quality. These results were published this fall inGlobal Health Science and Practice.Before the intervention, only 31% of postabortion care (PAC) clients received family planning counseling, and, of those who did, 37% accepted a contraceptive. During the intervention period, 91% of clients received counseling, and 60% of those women opted to use a contraceptive. Oral contraceptives were the most popular method before and during the intervention periods, but the uptake of implants increased significantly, from 4% to 27% of women who opted to use a method.High-quality PAC services that include family planning counseling and a full range of contraceptive methods at the point of treatment are critical to saving lives and reducing unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions. In 2014,at least 9% (16,000) of maternal deaths in Africa were due to unsafe abortion.There is no one-size-fits-all solution to improving PAC services. Optimizing Performance and Quality offers health facility leaders a comprehensive approach to identifying customized and realistic solutions to health service delivery problems. The approach walks a designated quality-improvement team through assessing existing performance, defining d...
Source: IntraHealth International - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Source Type: news