about ipas
newsroom
what we do
where we work
products
publications
contact

December 3, 2007
999th, 1,000th, and 1,001st award recipients
The 999th, 1,000th, and 1,001st doctors Ipas-India has trained in CAC receive their trophies.

Ipas-India recently celebrated its 1,000th doctor trained in comprehensive abortion care (CAC) in a ceremony in the Nashik District Hospital of Nashik, in India’s Maharashtra state. The 1,000th trainee, Dr. Navnath Avhad, a medical officer from the Nashik district, and the 999th and 1,001st trainees received commemorative trophies for completing the 24-day CAC training session on October 1.

Dr. D. M. Vaidya, Deputy Director Health Services (DDHS), Nashik Circle, presided over the event. Vaidya expressed happiness with Ipas’ work and stated hopes that Ipas would have trained “10,001 doctor trainees” in the subsequent year.

The event saw a gathering of officials from the district, support staff and nursing-school students. Around 120 people attended the function, which was widely covered in the local press and television networks.

CAC programs aim to provide safe, high-quality services, decentralize services to the most local level possible and to be affordable and acceptable to women. CAC programs focus on three aspects of women’s reproductive health care: choice, access and quality. Increasing choice, access and quality can greatly improve the quality of healthcare women receive.

Choice, for example, can be improved by providers and practices that empower women to determine if and when to become pregnant; whether to keep or terminate a pregnancy; to make her choice of available procedures, contraceptives and facilities; and providing her with information to make knowledgeable choices. Choice can be reduced if health-care providers or family members pressure a woman to make a decision. Access refers to both the availability of trained, equipped and competent providers, as well as a lack of geographic, economic, political and social barriers that prevent women from being able to receive services. The definition of “quality” CAC may vary from location to location depending on available resources, but all high-quality services should provide accurate, tailored information, use internationally recommended technologies and include other relevant reproductive health services.

CAC services are especially important in India, which has one of Asia’s broadest abortion laws, but where unsafe abortions far outnumber legal procedures. It is estimated that 9 percent of reported maternal deaths stem from unsafe, illegal abortions in the world’s second-most populated country. This translates to about 12,000 to 18,000 avoidable deaths every year, or up to 25 percent of all global maternal deaths due to unsafe abortions.

Ipas-India’s expansion of CAC services will address many of the factors behind these appalling statistics, including a lack of trained providers; a disproportionate concentration of certified providers and facilities in urban areas; inadequate and underutilized training facilities; poorly maintained or nonfunctioning equipment; and a lack of awareness of the types of abortion and reproductive health services that are legal and available, especially for adolescents and unmarried women.


For more information, contact:
Kirsten Sherk
Senior Associate, Media Relations
e-mail: sherkk@ipas.org
phone: 919.960.5612
fax: 919.929.0258