Preventing death following unsafe abortion: a case series from urban Uganda.
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Authors
Namagembe, Imelda
Nakimuli, Annettee
Byamugisha, Josephat
Aiken, Abigail
Publication Date
2022-02Journal Title
AJOG Glob Rep
ISSN
2666-5778
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Volume
2
Issue
1
Language
eng
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Namagembe, I., Nakimuli, A., Byamugisha, J., Moffett, A., Aiken, A., & Aiken, C. (2022). Preventing death following unsafe abortion: a case series from urban Uganda.. AJOG Glob Rep, 2 (1) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xagr.2021.100039
Description
Funder: Government of the United Kingdom
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Maternal deaths from unsafe abortion continue to occur globally, with particularly high rates in Sub-Saharan Africa where most abortions are classified as unsafe. Maternal death reviews are an effective part of cohesive strategies to prevent future deaths while abortion remains illegal. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to conduct maternal death reviews for all deaths occurring following unsafe abortion during the study period, to assess preventability, and to synthesize key learning points that may help to prevent future maternal deaths following unsafe abortions. STUDY DESIGN: Full case reviews of all maternal deaths (350 cases from Jan 2016 to Dec 2018) at the study center (a national referral hospital in urban Uganda) were conducted by specially trained multidisciplinary panels of obstetricians and midwives. We extracted the reviews of women who died following unsafe abortions (13 [2.6%]) for further analysis. RESULTS: Most maternal deaths owing to unsafe abortion were found to be preventable. The key recommendations that emerged from the reviews were (1) that clinicians should maintain a high index of suspicion for delayed presentation and rapid decompensation in cases where unsafe abortion has occurred, (2) that a low threshold for early intravenous antibiotic therapy should be applied, and (3) that any admission with complications following an unsafe abortion merits review by an experienced clinician as soon as possible. CONCLUSION: Postabortion care is part of essential emergency medical care and should be provided with high standards, especially in areas where there is limited or no legal access to abortion care. Implementing the recommended learning points is likely to be feasible even in low-resource obstetrical settings and, given the high rates of preventability found in maternal deaths owing to unsafe abortion, is likely to be effective.
Keywords
Sepsis, Uterine Perforation, Maternal Death, Postabortion Care, Unsafe Abortion
Sponsorship
This work was supported through the DELTAS Africa programme grant # DEL15-011. The DELTAS Africa programme is an independent funding scheme of The African Academy of Sciences (The AAS) supported by Wellcome 07742/Z/15/Z and the UK government. At The AAS, DELTAS Africa is implemented through AESA (Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa), the Academy’s agenda and programmatic platform, created in collaboration with the African Union (AUDA-NEPAD) Agency. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of The AAS, the AUDA-NEPAD Agency, Wellcome or the UK government. The funders had no role in in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication.
Funder references
Wellcome Trust (07742/Z/15/Z)
African Academy of Sciences (DEL15-011)
Identifiers
35252906, PMC8883508
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xagr.2021.100039
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/335857
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