GI Research Project

Project title: Study on Menstrual Regulation and Unsafe Abortion in Bangladesh: Incidence and Impact on Women's Health and Fertility

This annual Report of the Collaborative Research Project on “Menstrual Regulation and Unsafe Abortion in Bangladesh: Incidence and Impact on Women's Health and Fertility”includes the progress report of the study from July 2014 to June, 2015. This collaborative research project was being implemented by GuttmacherInstitute,USA and Association for Prevention of Septic Abortion,Bangladesh(BAPSA).

Overall goalof the research was to  improve women’s health by providing new evidence to inform policies and programs to prevent unintended pregnancies (for example, through improvements in contraceptive services), and to improve access to MR services and post abortion care. And also to strengthen skills and knowledge exchange among partners, through collaboration and communication between Guttmacher and BAPSA.

The objectives of the study were to:

  • Provide new estimates of the current incidence of MR and abortion, nationally and for major regions of Bangladesh
  • Provide new estimates of the trend in the incidence of MR and abortion from 2010 to 2014, nationally and for major regions.
  • Provide new estimates of the number and rate of women who were treated in facilities for complications resulting from unsafe abortion or unsafe MR procedures.
  • Assess the growing role of medication MR, as well as the use of medication to provoke unsafe abortion, nationally and for major regions of Bangladesh
  • Provide new information on the conditions under which Bangladeshi women have abortions and their health consequences, based on a survey of knowledgeable health care professionals.
  • Provide new information on the quality of MR services.
  • Assess the role of MR in improving women’s healthoutcomes and in lowering fertility.
  • Consult and communicate jointly with key stakeholders including policymakers and program managers in Bangladesh through a project advisory committee and through one-on-one meetings with stakeholders.
  • Disseminate findings to key stakeholders, including government ministries and departments, parliamentarians, nongovernmental organizations, donor agencies, organizations of medical professionals, researchers, health care providers, women's organizations, advocates and the media. Media outreach will be guided by in-country partners who are best placed to gauge the current political and social climate.
  • Present findings at national and international conferences in Asia and beyond and to multilateral organizations such as the World Bank, WHO, and UNFPA.

Major Activities:

To document the level of MR and abortion, provide national information on MR service provision, identify the common providers and methods used to induce abortion, and estimate the likelihood that women will experience abortion complications and receive treatment, two surveys were developed and fielded: the Health Professionals Survey (HPS) and the Health Facilities Survey (HFS).  These surveys were modeled after previous surveys developed and fielded by  theGuttmacher Institute in Bangladesh. A new focus of the surveys were the extent to which medication is used by providers to provide MR (MRM), as well as the prevalence of the illegal use of medication by women themselves to self-induce abortion.

  • Updating the list of Health facility
  • Preliminary Work and Development of study design and tools
  • Sample design
  • Health Professionals Survey
  • Health Facilities Survey
  • Formation of Project Advisory Panel
  • Obtaining Approval from BMRC for carrying out the Study
  • Obtaining Government Order for carrying out the Study
  • Recruitment of Data Collection Team
  • Training of Data collection Staff
  • Co-ordination and Consultation with GI
  • Field Work for Data Collection
  • Monitoring data collection
  • Data Management, Data entry and data cleaning
  • Data analysis Plan
  • Report Preparation and Presentation