Public Health/Medical Issues in Abortion Research

This resource is from the Capacity Strengthening for Abortion Research in Nigeria (CSARN) project. The material was developed as teaching modules for project Fellows who are early-career abortion researchers in Nigeria.

The presentation focuses on key terminologies, concepts, and landscapes of abortion in Nigeria to aid research engagements. Topics include the classification of abortion by safety, the dynamics of safe and unsafe abortion costs for public health and health systems, factors associated with, and burden of unsafe abortion globally and nationally, as well as approaches to preventing/reducing unsafe abortion incidences.

Usage of terms like ‘safe’ and ‘unsafe, ‘spontaneous’ and ‘induced’, ‘complete’ and ‘incomplete’, ‘medical’ and ‘surgical’ in describing abortion processes was explained to participants. Facilitators highlighted that young women and girls from marginalized or underprivileged backgrounds are most vulnerable to unsafe abortion. Participants were exposed to public health frameworks for intervention (primordial, primary, secondary and tertiary), as well as strategic action pillars for preventing unsafe abortion.