“They Love Their Patients”: Client Perceptions of Quality of Postabortion Care in North and South Kivu, the Democratic Republic of the Congo

作者：Julianne Deitch, Jean Pierre Amisi, Stephanie Martinez, Janet Meyers, Jean-Baptiste Muselemu, Jean Jose Nzau, Erin Wheeler, Sara E. Casey · 发表于：Global Health Science and Practice · 年份：2019 · DOI：10.9745/ghsp-d-18-00368 · 被引用次数：30 · 研究领域：Global Maternal and Child Health、Reproductive Health and Contraception、Reproductive Health and Technologies

BACKGROUND: Postabortion care (PAC) is a lifesaving intervention that, when accessible and of good quality, can prevent the majority of abortion-related deaths. However, these services are only sporadically available and often of poor quality in humanitarian settings. CARE International, the International Rescue Committee, and Save the Children strengthened the Congolese Ministry of Health to provide PAC, including voluntary contraceptive services, in North and South Kivu, DRC. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to gain understanding of the demographic and clinical characteristics of PAC clients, the experiences of women who sought PAC at supported health facilities, and the women's perceptions of the quality of care received. We also explored how client perspectives can inform future PAC programming. METHODS: A PAC register review extracted sociodemographic and clinical data on all PAC clients during a 12-month period between 2015 and 2016 at 69 supported facilities in 6 health zones. In-depth interviews were conducted between September 2016 and April 2017 with 50 women who sought PAC in the preceding 3 months at supported health facilities. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and translated into French for analysis. Thematic content analysis was subsequently used as the data analytic approach. RESULTS: In 12 months, 1,769 clients sought PAC at supported facilities; 85.2% were at less than 13 weeks gestation. Over 80% of PAC clients were treated for incomplete abortion, and of these, 90...