American Journal of Public Health Research, 2016, Vol. 4, No. 1, 8-15 Available online at http://pubs.sciepub.com/ajphr/4/1/2 © Science and Education Publishing DOI:10.12691/ajphr-4-1-2 Preventing Repeat Abortions among Women in Kumasi, Ghana Agyei Helena * , Dr. Easmon Otupiri, Dr. R. E. Larson-Reindorf Department of Community Health, SMS-KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana *Corresponding author: agyeihelena@ymail.com Abstract Induced Abortion which constitutes 10% of maternal mortality in Ghana presents a serious health problem particularly among women within 20-24 years presenting at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Kumasi. To accelerate progress towards achieving MDG 5 there must be substantial reduction in induced abortion alongside an increased contraceptive uptake, Post Abortion Care. Barriers to contraceptive use were as a result of; fear of side effect, inaccessibility, socio-economic factors, bad social prescripts and poor service delivery. The output, unintended pregnancies ended in induced abortions. The desire to delay, space and end childbirth are reasons giving for having an induced abortion suggesting high unmet need for FP. Keywords: self-induced, spontaneous, abortion, post-abortion, contraceptive useZ Cite This Article: Agyei Helena, Dr. Easmon Otupiri, and Dr. R. E. Larson-Reindorf, “Preventing Repeat Abortions among Women in Kumasi, Ghana.” American Journal of Public Health Research, vol. 4, no. 1 (2016): 8-15. doi: 10.12691/ajphr-4-1-2. 1. Introduction Promoting post-abortion contraceptive uptake is a key intervention for improving the health of all women and children. Contraceptive uptake plays an important role in reducing fertility. Contraceptive use, however, is the consequence of contraceptive acceptance, method choice, continuation, switching and failure. The use of contraceptive methods to prevent unintended pregnancies is one of the most effective strategies to reducing induced abortion rates, maternal morbidity and mortality. Thus, the provision of post-abortion family planning services that include counselling with easy access to contraceptive methods are suitable to determine the acceptance and selection of contraceptive methods by women who have had induced abortion. PAC services have historically sought to reduce maternal mortality by treating the symptoms of haemorrhage and sepsis rather than by treating women's unmet need for family planning thus overlooking the potential of Post- abortion care to interrupt the cycle of repeat unplanned pregnancy, abortion and complications leading to maternal death. For many post-abortion patients, the lack of family planning counselling and services quickly leads to another induced abortion, because fertility returns within four to six weeks after miscarriage or induced abortion. Induced abortion remains pervasive and damaging condition in the low-income and middle-income countries where mostly abortion is illegal. In Ghana unsafe abortion remains a major public health problem despite apparent liberalisation of the law on abortion over two decades. Though abortion is legal in Ghana, women still obtain unsafe abortions (The Alan Guttmacher Institute, 1999) due to lack of knowledge at the provider and population levels. Most women, especially in the developing world have misconception together with other factors that influence the use of contraception which makes post- abortion care deficient and calls for the need to be incorporated into practice for Ghana to attain the MDG 5. Contraception is one of the major determinants of fertility levels. Its use has been increasing steadily since 1970 and is currently widespread throughout the world. However, progress has been uneven across geographical areas and great challenges remain in terms of both increasing the level of contraceptive use to satisfy existing needs in certain regions and in terms of making available an adequate variety of contraceptive methods to increase the ability of individuals wishing to use contraception to do so in a consistent and efficient manner. Post-abortion contraceptive uptake is proposed as a strategy to avert unintended pregnancy and the practice of self-induced abortion which dates back to ancient times. Worldwide contraceptive prevalence, the percentage of women using contraception among women of reproductive age who are married or in a consensual union is estimated to have reached 61 per cent in 1998, the average date for the most recent data available in 160 countries. However, this global average masks important disparities across and within developmental groups, major areas and regions. In Africa, low levels of contraceptive use have persisted since the early 1970s in the countries of Eastern, Middle and Western Africa. Significant increases did not start in those regions until the late 1980s or early 1990s; a development that explains why 87 per cent of the countries in Africa with data on trends still had contraceptive prevalence levels below 30 per cent in 2000. Studies in Africa, Latin America and Russia have demonstrated an uptake of post abortion contraception of