October 17, 2011

VSI Medical and Programs Director interviewed about innovative medication abortion program in Ethiopia

(ANAHEIM, CA) – On October 17, 2011, to align with the published commentary on the results of an innovative Comprehensive Abortion Care (CAC) pilot project in Ethiopia, Duncan Jarvies, producer at the British Medical Journal Group, interviewed VSI Medical and Programs Director Dr. Ndola Prata, co-author and co-principal investigator on the project. 

In the interview, Dr. Prata describes designing the project to maximize use of existing health resources while expanding access to medication abortion services and the opportunities these services can provide to improve maternal health. “Over time we had a significantly smaller number of women coming [to health centers] with unsafe abortions.” And crucial to improving maternal health is another essential component of the project: “Family planning is a very important part of abortion services. Every woman when she arrived at the facility for an abortion-related service was counseled on these methods, so she leaves the facility with a [family planning] method.”

The results of the collaborative project of VSI, Tigray Health Bureau and the Bixby Center for Population, Health and Sustainability were highlighted in the October issue of the Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care. Beyond the success shown in the project’s data, women reached with medication abortion services exclaimed, there is “a new hope for women” in their communities.

READ the commentary or LISTEN to the podcast interview.

LEARN more about VSI's work in Ethiopia