Strengthening regional commitment to ensuring access to medical abortion medicines in WHO's South-East Asia region: report of a participatory assessment and workshop.

In 2019, the World Health Organization identified improving access to safe abortion as an important priority toward improving sexual and reproductive health and rights and achieving Sustainable Development Goals. One strategy for addressing this priority is strengthening access to medicines for medical abortion. All 11 countries in the South-East Asia Region have some indications for legal abortion and permit post-abortion care. Therefore, strengthening access to medical abortion medicines is a reasonable strategy for improving access to safe abortion for the Region. We applied an adapted version of an existing World Health Organization landscape assessment protocol for the availability of medical abortion medicines at the country-level in the South-East Asia Region. We collected publicly available data on the existence of national health laws, policies, and standard treatment guidelines; inclusion of medical abortion medicines in the national essential medicines list; and marketing authorization status for medical abortion medicines for each country and verified by Ministries of health. The findings were once more presented, discussed and recommendations were formulated during regional technical consultation workshop. Each country teams participated in the process, and subsequently, the suggestions were validated by representatives from Ministries of Health.. Few countries in the Region currently have national policies and guidelines for comprehensive safe abortion. However, either mifepristone-misoprostol in combination or misoprostol alone (for other indications) is included in national essential medicines lists in all countries except Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Few countries earmark specific public funds for procuring and distributing medical abortion commodities. In countries where abortion is legal, the private sector and NGOs support access to medical abortion information and medicines. Several countries only allow registered medical practitioners or specialists to administer medical abortion. Following this rapid participatory assessment and technical consultation workshop, the World Health Organization South-East Asia Regional Technical Advisory and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights technical committee recommended priority actions for policy and advocacy, service delivery, and monitoring and evaluation, and indicated areas for support.

Upadhyay MT ，Fusire T ，Loi UR ，Sorhaindo A ，Salahuddin M ，Hossain MA ，Tshomo T ，Mulati E ，Daisy L ，Anggraweni DP ，Gultom T ，Indrawati F ，Jenyfa M ，Than MM ，Bhattarai B ，Moonasinghe L ，Mathota C ，Jitruknatee A ，Cham C ，Ganatra B ，Raina N ... -  《Reproductive Health》

Availability of medical abortion medicines in eight countries: a descriptive analysis of key findings and opportunities.

In recent years a growing number of manufacturers and medical abortion products have entered country markets and health systems, with varying degrees of quality and accessibility. An interplay of factors including pharmaceutical regulations, abortion laws, government policies and service delivery guidelines and provider's knowledge and practices influence the availability of medical abortion medicines. We assessed the availability of medical abortion in eight countries to increase understanding among policymakers of the need to improve availability and affordability of quality-assured medical abortion products at regional and national levels. Using a national assessment protocol and an availability framework, we assessed the availability of medical abortion medicines in Bangladesh, Liberia, Malawi, Nepal, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and South Africa between September 2019 and January 2020. Registration of abortion medicines-misoprostol or a combination of mifepristone and misoprostol-was established in all countries assessed, except Rwanda. Mifepristone and misoprostol regimen for medical abortion was identified on the national essential medicines list/standard treatment guidelines for South Africa as well as in specific abortion care service and delivery guidelines for Bangladesh, Nepal, Nigeria, and Rwanda. In Liberia, Malawi, and Sierra Leone-countries with highly restrictive abortion laws and no abortion service delivery guidelines or training curricula-no government-supported training on medical abortion for public sector providers had occurred. Instead, training on medical abortion was either limited in scope to select private sector providers and pharmacists or prohibited. Community awareness activities on medical abortion have been limited in scope across the countries assessed and where abortion is broadly legal, most women do not know that it is an option. Understanding the factors that influence the availability of medical abortion medicines is important to support policymakers improve availability of these medicines. The landscape assessments documented that medical abortion commodities can be uniquely impacted by the laws, policies, values, and degree of restrictions placed on service delivery programs. Results of the assessments can guide actions to improve access.

Grossman A ，Prata N ，Williams N ，Ganatra B ，Lavelanet A ，Läser L ，Asmani C ，Elamin H ，Ouedraogo L ，Rahman MM ，Conneh-Duworko MJ ，Tehoungue BZ ，Chanza H ，Phiri H ，Bhattarai B ，Dhakal NP ，Ojo OA ，Afolabi K ，Kabuteni TJ ，Hailu BG ，Moses F ，Dlamini-Nqeketo S ，Zulu T ，Rehnström Loi U ... -  《Reproductive Health》

Access to mifepristone, misoprostol, and contraceptive medicines in eight countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: descriptive analyses of country-level assessments.

Afifi M ，Hemachandra N ，Sikandar Q ，Hajjeh R ，Loi UR ，Läser L ，Qato D ，Abdul ZS ，Chikvaidze P ，Abbas RAR ，Al-Kinani K ，Hasan H ，El-Kak F ，Rady A ，Brngali O ，Hashem M ，Bezad R ，Amine C ，Hafid H ，Afzal S ，Zaidi R ，Thom E ，Uzma Q ，Al-Masri H ，Qamar ZA ，Ghanem B ，Ward IA ，Shaar AN ，Farah U ，Mohamed YO ，Umar AU ，Eladawy M ... -  《Reproductive Health》

Landscape assessment of the availability of medical abortion medicines in India.

Medical abortion with mifepristone and misoprostol can be provided up to 63 days' gestation in India. This accounts for 67.5 percent of all abortions in the country. We conducted an assessment to determine the availability of medical abortion medicines, specifically the combi-pack, in India. We applied the World Health Organization landscape assessment protocol at the national level. The assessment protocol included a five-step adaptation of an existing availability framework, including online data collection, desk review, country-level key informant interviews, and an analysis to identify barriers and opportunities to improve medical abortion availability. The assessment was conducted between August and March 2021. Medicines for medical abortion are included in the national essential drug list and available with prescription in India. The assessment identified 42 combi-pack products developed by 35 manufacturers. The quality of medical abortion medicines is regulated by national authorities; but as health is devolved to states, there are significant inter-state variations. This is seen across financing, procurement, manufacturing, and monitoring mechanisms for quality assurance of medical abortion medicines prior to distribution. There is a need to strengthen supply chain systems, ensure consistent availability of trained providers and build community awareness on use of medical abortion medicines for early abortions, at the time of the assessment. Opportunities to improve availability and quality of medical abortion medicines exist. For example, uniform implementation of regulatory standards, greater emphasis on quality-assurance during manufacturing, and standardizing of procurement and supply chain systems across states. Regular in-service training of providers on medical abortion is required. Finally, innovations in evidence dissemination and community engagement about the recently amended abortion law are needed.

Karna P ，Sharma KA ，Grossman A ，Gupta M ，Chatterjee T ，Williams N ，Prata N ，Sorhaindo A ，Läser L ，Rehnström Loi U ，Ganatra B ，Chaudhary P ... -  《Reproductive Health》

In-country availability of medical abortion medicines: a description of the framework and methodology of the WHO landscape assessments.

Availability of quality-assured medical abortion medicines plays a crucial role in providing comprehensive abortion care. However, access to these medicines is still restricted for many abortion seekers. Increasing availability of affordable, quality-assured mifepristone and misoprostol is important to improve access to safe medical abortion services. Driven by the outcomes of a global consultation hosted by the World Health Organization and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency in 2018, we decided to holistically examine access to medical abortion medicines from supply to demand. The overarching principle of the national landscape assessments was to generate evidence to support policy dialog and policymaking that is contextual to the needs of the country. This paper aims to describe the framework and methodological approach used in the World Health Organization landscape assessments of medical abortion medicines at country-level. A country assessment protocol was developed to guide the methodology of the World Health Organization landscape assessments. The assessment protocol included adaptation of an existing availability framework, an online desk review and literature review for existing data available for the country of interest, country-level key informant interviews, and analysis of the data to identify barriers and opportunities to improve medical abortion availability. The availability framework and methodology will allow the identification of key barriers that limit readiness of medical abortion medicines, and the development of opportunities to overcome those barriers. The national landscape assessments will provide directions for future investments and offer guidance for policy and programming on medical abortion care.

Rehnström Loi U ，Prata N ，Grossman A ，Lavelanet A ，Williams N ，Ganatra B ... -  《Reproductive Health》