Short-Term Use of Injectable Contraception: An Effective Strategy for Safe Motherhood

Excerpt

Use of contraception is a substantial and effective preventive strategy to reduce maternal mortality, especially in developing countries. Numbers of unintended pregnancies and unmet contraceptive need are still high in many developing countries, and hence abortion-related deaths are also very high. Every two hours a woman dies from an unsafe abortion in India! Hence, the problem of unsafe abortions is especially acute. There were 620,472 reported abortions in 2012; experts say the true number of abortions performed in the country could be as high as 7 million, with two-thirds of them taking place outside authorized health facilities [1]. The global perception is also stark; the number of women with an unmet need for family planning has been projected to grow to 962 million by 2015. …