In over 20 years, we averted over 642,000 unsafe abortions, 150,000 unintended pregnancies —IPAS

Beyond building the capacity of health workers, policy and legislation, Ipas Nigeria, an international non-governmental organisation promoting issues of sexual and reproductive health and rights of women, says it averted over 642,000 unsafe abortions and nearly 150,000 unintended pregnancies in its over 20 years of operation in Nigeria.

Deputy Director, Ipas Nigeria,  Mr Sam Amade speaking at the 20 years celebration and dissemination meeting with key stakeholders in the SRHR space in Nigeria, with the theme “Ipas Nigeria: Our Journey, Our Future” said the nearly 600,000 women have accessed post-abortion care (PAC) and comprehensive abortion care (CAC) services and over 230,000 women received modern contraceptive services.

Mr Amade said, over the years, IPAS’s work in ensuring every girl and woman has that right and ability to actualise their sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) aspirations, also ensured that overall, 72 per cent of all the clients it served, particularly those who took PAC/KAC services had taken a contraceptive afterwards.

He stated that even as the landscape around family planning and unsafe abortion continues to change from what it was 20 years ago, Ipas Nigeria will continue to invest and advance its course of protecting the SRHR of women and girls, including advocating for safe abortion and protection from gender based violence.

Director, Reproductive Health, Federal Ministry of health, Dr Kayode Afolabi, speaking though Mrs Zainab Garuba, commended Ipas’s contribution to prevent women from dying from pregnancy-related complications and assured that the federal government will continue to make policies to benefit the health of Nigerians.

Ipas Nigeria’s Former Country Director, Dr Ejike Orji said the reduction in maternal mortality due to the Federal government’s midwifery service wouldn’t have happened without Ipas Nigeria that task shift post abortion care to midwives across the country.

He declared that women were still dying from abortion-related complications and family planning, a key to improving maternal health, has to be Ipas focus in going forward.

 President, PAC-NET Women’s health and Youth Development Initiative, Professor Brian Adinma, urged Ipas to also consider reaching out to young persons to tackle the high level of ignorance on SRHR issues in the group.

Earlier, Ipas Nigeria’s Country Director, Mr Lucky Palmer stated that Ipas Nigeria mission in moving forward is to ensure that no woman in Nigeria again die from abortion-related complications, where men stand up for the right of women, issues of social stigma is not part of men’s conversation, and women and girls are able to achieve their full potential.

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