COVID-19
Ipas Telehealth Initiative:
As COVID-19 began its global spread, Ipas Pakistan calling on governments and health systems to designate abortion care as an essential health service. We continue this advocacy work, aiming to both protect and expand abortion access during the pandemic. We’re also advocating for better protections against sexual violence, which is on the rise during the pandemic, and better access to sexual and reproductive health care for victims of violence with a rationale to provide a comprehensive abortion care service to women/ girls in need, at the door-step and to save women/girls from turning to life threatening unsafe practices.
With physical access to health facilities in Pakistan limited by COVID-19, providing women and girls an alternative way to get reproductive health counselling and information is an urgent need. A joint effort by Ipas Pakistan, provincial departments of health and Sehat kahani Pakistan is helping meet that need. Private- and public-sector health professionals have received online training that has equipped them to provide telehealth consultations with women and girls in need of medical abortion, abortion self-care or postabortion contraception.
Ipas, new telehealth initiative is helping meet that need. The project is a joint effort by Ipas Pakistan, provincial departments of health and Sehat Kahani Pakistan, a non-governmental organization working to improve low-income people’s access to quality health care. To date, 45 private- and public-sector health professionals have received three days of online training that has equipped them to provide telehealth consultations with women and girls in need of medical abortion, abortion self-care or postabortion contraception.
These providers can now offer consultations at any time of the day, whether it is by phone, the internet or smartphone apps. This will particularly help women and girls who cannot reach health facilities because of the difficult situation with COVID-19. The providers can counsel and help women manage their own abortions outside health facilities with medical abortion drugs. They can also offer counselling and advice on family planning services and refer any woman who needs postabortion care to a nearby health facility.
Other initiatives:
- Immediate provision of PPEs to healthcare providers at Ipas supported 88 health facilities.
- Ipas clinical guidance endorsed by PAPAC and adopted during development of National RH and SOGP guidance
- Comprehensive abortion care included as an essential service in COVID-19-Reproductive Health National Guidelines and case record form.
- Several virtual commodity sustainability advocacy workshops with district and facility mangers and training on Miso and MVA calculators
- e-Messages to healthcare providers on Miso-dosage and PAC related danger signs
- e- Messages on PAC-PAFP disseminated to 1,657 LHWs (Lady Health Workers) for trickle down to community women and girls to provide continued awareness around SRH and pathways. 103,150 women were reached.
- e-Messages on PAC-PAFP to sensitize male community intermediaries – family welfare assistants and social mobilizers and trickle down to community.
- e-Messages to almost 500 pharmacists and sensitized them to ensure availability of misoprostol as a lifesaving drug and FP commodities during the pandemic.
Outcomes:
- A window opportunity for women to have consultation with privacy.
- Gradual confidence building and women empowerment to seek advice around safe abortion/PAC and managing Abortion Self Care (ASC).
- Expanding telehealth providers and LHW’s pool.
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