conference, held Nov. 29 – Dec. 2 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, brought
together researchers, policymakers, advocates, health-care providers,
youth advocates, journalists, and donors—all focused on reducing the
detrimental impact of unsafe abortion on African women, especially young
women and girls.
The conference corresponded with two important milestones:
- The 10-year anniversary of the passage of the law in Ethiopia
which decriminalized abortion and paved the way for a national safe
abortion program under a broad set of conditions. - The 10-year anniversary of the 2006 consultation, Linking
Research to Action to Reduce Unsafe Abortion in sub-Saharan Africa,
during which participants shared abortion research findings to date,
identified the significant evidence gaps to facilitate policy and
practice change, and set an abortion research agenda for the next
decade.
At the close of the conference,
organizers, co-sponsors and other attending signatories endorsed a
Conference Declaration that sets forth a comprehensive research and action agenda and cements their shared commitment to safe abortion care throughout the region:
“We—more than 260 researchers, advocates, policymakers and
donors—commit ourselves and call on others to build, share and act on
the evidence…. We pledge to come together as a community of experts who
share the commitment to expanding access to comprehensive and
high-quality reproductive health care, including safe abortion. We will
trust the women and girls of Africa so that they can fully realize their
reproductive rights and achieve their potential.”
The declaration highlights the need to expand evidence in areas such as medical abortion, the root causes of abortion stigma and other barriers to access, quality of abortion care, and interventions to increase access to care for all women, particularly those in humanitarian settings and survivors of sexual violence.
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