Gaps in available published data on abortion in Uganda and the missed opportunity to inform policy and practice

Abstract

Globally, 25% of pregnancies end up in induced abortion, the majority of which are unsafe. Abortion is safe when conducted according to WHO recommendations. The objective of the present study was to identify gaps in the data published on abortion and make recommendations to the Ministry of Health, Uganda. The search strategy included PubMed, Google Scholar articles (from October 2020 to May 2021) on unsafe abortion in Uganda, reviewed data from the Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Uganda (AOGU) members' baseline survey (2019), Health Management Information System (HMIS) summary data (2015–2016 to 2019–2020), and the Uganda Demographic and Heath Survey (DHS) report (2011, 2016). From the 200 articles and national health surveys identified, 37 articles and two national representative surveys met our criteria: prevalence, factors, estimating cost of induced abortion, and complications associated with safe and unsafe abortion in both low-and high-income countries. There are many unsafe abortions in restrictive environments. Abortion is one of the leading causes of maternal and morbidity. Physicians favor dilatation and curettage over manual vacuum aspiration and medical methods for the evacuation of retained products. Several gaps still exist in the published articles, HMIS data, and DHS data, leading to missed opportunities for data to inform policy and practice.