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In Latin America and the Caribbean, 3.7 million unsafe abortions occur every year, according to the World Health Organization, and claim the lives of 3,700 women. Because abortion is such a polarizing topic and is legally restricted in many countries, abortion and postabortion care services have historically been poorly tracked, making it difficult for providers and other health actors to follow trends in abortion care and make improvements where needed. Recently however, the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), an international public health agency and a major source for health system monitoring and statistics for Latin America, decided for the first time to record and publish information on abortion care and postabortion care, using a new monitoring tool based on program evaluation technology developed by Ipas.

“Governments around the world have committed to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality by 75 percent between 1990 and 2015. Accurate health surveillance will be fundamental to reaching these ambitious global objectives,” Elizabeth Maguire, President and CEO of Ipas said at a conference in Uruguay last November.

Collecting service statistics on abortion care clients can help health systems and governments track and assess how services can best be provided to women. Designed by Ipas staff members, Maribel Mañibo and Dr. Rodolfo Gomez in collaboration with Ipas Central America, the Comprehensive Postabortion Care/Abortion Care (COMPAC™) system is a paper and electronic clinical record system tailored for data collection and analysis of abortion and postabortion care services. The information it provides is essential to designing strategic local and national health programs aimed at reducing maternal mortality in Latin America and the Caribbean, where unsafe abortion is one of the principle causes of maternal death.

Working together, Ipas and the PAHO Latin American Center for Perinatology /Women and Reproductive Health (CLAP/WR-PAHO/WHO) expanded the COMPAC system, also drawing upon the CLAP/WR’s Perinatal Information System for collecting perinatal clinical data and used in Latin America for more than two decades. This new system, SIP-A, will enable PAHO to track and analyze abortion data and develop better programs to improve maternal health.

The SIP-A system is based on a commitment to high-quality, comprehensive, woman-centered abortion care. It allows health-care providers to use a single, comprehensive form to keep track of the services they provide and document key aspects of care. The SIP-A system also provides service delivery feedback and enables providers and administrators to determine how they can best improve abortion care. This comprehensive approach allows health systems to develop more efficient care, reduce costs and increase the quality of reproductive health services. Ultimately, PAHO’s initiative to use the SIP-A system to monitor abortion and postabortion care in Latin America will not only improve women’s access to better care, it will also help to save their lives.

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For more information, contact media@ipas.org