IPPF and HowToUse have developed a free online medical abortion training for the full range of healthcare workers, including physicians, midwives, pharmacists, medical students and community health workers. The training will equip health workers with the necessary skills to provide care for women seeking medical abortion up to 13 weeks’ gestation. The training is focused on person-centered care and includes a module on supporting women in medical abortion self-care.
As abortion care continues to be left off medical training curriculums, this training will fill a critical gap in the education of many health workers. It has the potential to significantly increase the number of health workers with the skills and knowledge to provide abortion care, especially in low-resource settings, and thereby increase the number of women supported to safely end a pregnancy.
The updated WHO Abortion Care Guideline includes recommendations to make most abortions - especially early abortions - a simple primary care level intervention. The guideline recommends that medical abortion up to 12 weeks can be managed by a range of trained health workers including community health workers, pharmacists and pharmacy workers and midwives, as well as by the pregnant individuals.
The training, which is a video series available for free in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese and Russian, is designed to equip these health workers with the relevant skills to provide medical abortion care. The course can be accessed from desktop or mobile and is structured to be an interactive learning experience, complete with quizzes and an option to download a certificate upon successful completion.
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