Post-abortion care (PAC) is treatment given to a woman who presents at a health center or hospital
with complications without value judgement, usually bleeding or infection, due to an unsafe abortion or miscarriage. PAC does not only mean addressing incomplete abortion and treating complications but it also involves linking women to other reproductive health services and providing them with post abortion contraception if the voluntarily choose to adopt a method. Post abortion contraception is a critical element of PAC which is a means of preventing subsequent unwanted pregnancies. All women should be counselled and offered post-abortion contraception before leaving the healthcare facility, because fertility can return within a week. The conflict in the NW and SW regions of Cameroon has led women and girls faced with heightened vulnerability to unintended pregnancy with a vast majority leading to unsafe abortions which is one of the leading causes of maternal morbidity and mortality. Between the month of June and July 2019, RuWCED has received five cases of rape with some victims stating that there are other victims in the bushes. A situation report indicated that 26 gender-based violence (GBV) incidents were recorded by GBV partners, including 9 cases of rape recorded in May 2019 only (OCHA report May 2019). Several other causes like no schools, drop out from school, Congestions from IDPs, family separation of girl children and subsequent lack of family ties, homelessness, poverty leading to sex for money etc, has let to increase in the incidence of unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions.
The armed conflict has also affected enormously access to sexual and reproductive health services of women and girls due to burning of health facilities, displacement of health personnel to safer regions, occupation of health facility by government forces, curfew and ghost towns.
RuWCED Cameroon in collaboration with health facilities of the 13 villages of Ngoketunjia Division and some in the North West region is actively seeking solutions to the incidence of unsafe abortions through research, increasing access to post-abortion care and contraceptive services for rural women and girls in Ngoketunjia Division. RuWCED Cameroon also supports post abortion contraception, carries out a wide range sensitization to improve knowledge of sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) services of rural women and girls with the overall goal to change community attitudes towards stigmatization of women seeking SRHR knowledge and services.