Unsafe abortion is a leading cause of maternal death, and the only one that is completely preventable. Yet over 30 million unsafe abortions occur each year, leading to at least 28,000 deaths and millions of serious complications—nearly all in low- and middle-income countries.
MSF teams see these tragic consequences first-hand, treating thousands of patients every year with severe, potentially life-threatening effects from unsafe abortion. So in 2016 we launched a program to systematically implement safe abortion care (SAC), starting with ten pilot sites and then applying the lessons learned to scale up at projects across the globe.
This Collection presents highlights of these efforts. Since our first publication on the need to provide SAC as a way of reducing maternal death and injury, several studies assessed the role of unsafe abortion in driving this suffering in specific contexts. Others described internal obstacles to providing SAC, operational solutions developed, and outcomes achieved. And we advocated for shifting towards community-led and self-managed SAC, particularly given new obstacles that emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mangion JP, Mancini S, Bachy C, de Weggheleire A, Zamatto F
2023-06-21 • Public Health Action
2023-06-21 • Public Health Action
A rising number of diphtheria cases were recorded in Europe in 2022, including in Belgium, within the newly arriving young migrant population. In October 2022, Médecins Sans Frontières (...
Eisenberg N, Panunzi I, Wolz A, Burzio C, Cilliers A, et al.
2021-10-05 • Clinical Infectious Diseases
2021-10-05 • Clinical Infectious Diseases
BACKGROUND Diphtheria has re-emerged over the past several years. There is a paucity of data on the administration and safety of diphtheria antitoxin (DAT), the standard treatment fo...
Van Boetzelaer E, Chowdhury SM, Etsay B, Faruque A, Lenglet AD, et al.
2020-12-23 • PLOS One
2020-12-23 • PLOS One
BACKGROUND Following an influx of an estimated 742,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) established an active indicator-based Community Based Surveilla...
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees arrived in Bangladesh within weeks in fall 2017, quickly forming large settlements without any basic support. Humanitarian first responders pro...
Truelove SA, Keegan LT, Moss WJ, Chaisson LH, Macher E, et al.
2019-08-19 • Clinical Infectious Diseases
2019-08-19 • Clinical Infectious Diseases
BACKGROUND Diphtheria, once a major cause of childhood morbidity and mortality, all but disappeared following introduction of diphtheria vaccine. Recent outbreaks highlight the risk ...
Finger F, Funk S, White K, Siddqui MR, Edmunds KL, et al.
2019-03-12 • BMC Medicine
2019-03-12 • BMC Medicine
Between August and December 2017, more than 625,000 Rohingya from Myanmar fled into Bangladesh, settling in informal makeshift camps in Cox’s Bazar district and joining 212,000 Rohingya ...
Pereboom M, White K, Van Leeuwen C, Siddiqui R, Guzek J, et al.
2018-07-01
2018-07-01
OBJECTIVES
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES a) To describe the vaccine coverage (penta / dT) in children aged 6 months to 14 years for diphtheria in the Rohingya Settlement Camps;
Besa NC, Coldiron ME, Bakri A, Raji A, Nsuami MJ, et al.
2013-07-18 • Epidemiology and Infection
2013-07-18 • Epidemiology and Infection
SUMMARY A diphtheria outbreak occurred from February to November 2011 in the village of Kimba and its surrounding settlements, in Borno State, northeastern Nigeria. We conducted a retros...
