Creating increased acceptance for safe abortion
To support the development of professional norms and values in relation to abortion, KOGS developed in-house training on value clarification and attitude transformation (VCAT) under the leadership of KOGS past president and FIGO President Elect Anne-Beatrice Kihara. In addition, a community health volunteer handbook and manual were developed to guide the community sessions in Kajiado county.
- Qualitative interviews indicated that VCAT contributed to a changed perception and non-judgemental approach towards clients seeking safe services and VCAT-trained healthcare providers felt equipped and empowered to support patients with CAC issues.
- A strong collaborative approach with Kajiado county health leadership led to changed perceptions and support of post-abortion care (PAC) services.
- Following the training of community health volunteers, the prevention of unsafe abortion and women’s rights were discussed during household visits in Kajiado.
- Community members felt better informed about the dangers of unsafe abortion, the legal framework of Kenya on abortion and the availability of PAC services and young people and parents in the community are more open to discuss the issues of reproductive health with each other.
“…personally, it changed my perception because, unless it came as an inevitable abortion or incomplete, that is when I would consider giving the services to the patient as an emergency but right now, that training really changed my perception. I can sit down and have a patient, I listen to them, and I never used to do that because I would see it as either right or wrong, but now we sit down and talk, reason together and come to a conclusion and it is the patient who decides, so it is patient-centred. We are there to give them support, that was not what I used to do before.”
~ VCAT-trained health provider
“I have seen the doctors nowadays are not like the doctors who were there back then, because you could enter the room and even before you tell of the cause, maybe the miscarriage is due to the weak uterus, he calls other people to come and see what is happening, so maybe someone may fear because of a previous incident and think that the hospitals have not changed, but we the community health workers, we encourage them and tell them the hospitals have changed, so they come there confidently knowing they will be assisted.”
~community health volunteer, Kajiado
