Integrating postabortion care (PAC) into other health services: constraints and opportunities during a period of funding and political uncertainty.

Postabortion care is comprised of three elements: emergency treatment for complications of spontaneous or unsafe induced abortion family planning services and counseling and linkages between emergency abortion treatment and comprehensive reproductive health care services. The political volatility of the abortion issue concerns about alienating donors and the stipulation that US Agency for International Development funds cannot be used for such services and equipment have impeded progress in this area. Integration of postabortion care with other services is not only a cost-effective way of circumventing some of these obstacles but also enhances acceptability and institutional sustainability. North-South cooperation can help Third World countries to develop postabortion services. For example AVSC International and Columbia University (US) assisted Orientame a nongovernmental Colombian clinic providing treatment for incomplete abortion in obtaining funding from two US-based private foundations and advised Orientame on an in-depth study of postabortion clients services and service providers. AVCS further sponsored a regional meeting for public sector hospital administrators in seven Latin American countries aimed at developing proposals for new postabortion service delivery programs. To promote integrated programming AVSC includes postabortion care providers and content on postabortion issues in all family planning trainings. The Consortium of Postabortion Care of which AVSC was a founding member has made available an educational kit training and clinical guidelines advanced policy formulation and grant support for postabortion equipment.