Ipas launches country program in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, abortion is legally restricted. Yet menstrual regulation by vacuum aspiration is not regulated by the penal code and is considered an acceptable method for establishing non-pregnancy in the first trimester. Despite these services, unsafe abortion does occur, particularly in rural parts of the country.

To support efforts to reduce maternal mortality from unintended pregnancy, Ipas has established a program in Bangladesh. Though the program is new, Ipas has been supporting Bangladesh since the 1990s to distribute MVA instruments, and more recently collaborated with theInternational Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh ( ICDDR’B) on a review of menstrual regulation and postabortion care services in the Jessore district of Bangladesh.

Dr. S.M. Shahidullah, Ipas Bangladesh country manager, says Ipas plans to “support capacity building within the public sector to strengthen postabortion care and menstrual regulation services, conduct pilot studies and advocate for policy change to increase access by expanding the pool of providers and integrating the use of modern medical methods for both menstrual regulation and postabortion care services.”

“The importance of improving postabortion care to reduce mortality and morbidity from unsafe abortion is a critical strategy for Bangladesh to achieve its Millennium Development Goals,” Professor Shah Monir Hossain, a senior consultant for the project preparation cell of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said during an event in August to launch the program. He called for the formation of a task force that would develop strategies to link menstrual regulation and postabortion care at the service delivery level and called for services in urban slums as well as hard-to-reach areas.

“We look forward to the new partnership and focus on this neglected reproductive health issue in Bangladesh,” says Mary Luke, Ipas executive vice president.

Source: http://ipas.org