{"title":"加纳堕胎药的药房配药:药房工作人员和使用者的经验。","authors":"Mercy Nana Akua Otsin, Kirsten Black, Leesa Hooker, Angela J Taft","doi":"10.1136/bmjsrh-2022-201674","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Self-managed medical abortions are generally safe; however, pharmacy provision of abortion pills is against the Ghanaian abortion law. Nevertheless, evidence shows increasing numbers of women use it. An understanding of the influence of the law on pharmacies dispensing abortifacients and women who needed hospital care after using these pills is lacking. This study aimed to address this gap.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We conducted 26 interviews with eight pharmacy workers and 18 women who sought hospital care after using abortion pills. Study participants were recruited from private pharmacies and hospitals within the Ashanti Region of Ghana between June 2017 and March 2018. We employed phenomenology in analysing the data.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Results show that criminalising medical abortion care from pharmacies does not stop abortions but rather drives it to be provided without oversight. It also denied pharmacy workers formal training in medical abortion care, resulting in situations where they failed to provide correct dosage information, used their discretion in determining the price of abortifacients and to whom they would dispense the pills. For women, it contributed to limited interaction with providers and an inability to insist on their rights even in instances where the pills were sold at exorbitant prices.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Due to the increasing numbers of Ghanaian women using medical abortion pills from pharmacies, although it is illegal, the ideal would be for medical abortion pills to be made legally available through pharmacies. Given that this may not occur in the short term, an immediate solution would be to upskill pharmacy workers.</p>","PeriodicalId":9219,"journal":{"name":"BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.4000,"publicationDate":"2023-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Pharmacy dispensing of abortion pills in Ghana: experiences of pharmacy workers and users.\",\"authors\":\"Mercy Nana Akua Otsin, Kirsten Black, Leesa Hooker, Angela J Taft\",\"doi\":\"10.1136/bmjsrh-2022-201674\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Self-managed medical abortions are generally safe; however, pharmacy provision of abortion pills is against the Ghanaian abortion law. Nevertheless, evidence shows increasing numbers of women use it. An understanding of the influence of the law on pharmacies dispensing abortifacients and women who needed hospital care after using these pills is lacking. This study aimed to address this gap.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We conducted 26 interviews with eight pharmacy workers and 18 women who sought hospital care after using abortion pills. Study participants were recruited from private pharmacies and hospitals within the Ashanti Region of Ghana between June 2017 and March 2018. We employed phenomenology in analysing the data.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Results show that criminalising medical abortion care from pharmacies does not stop abortions but rather drives it to be provided without oversight. It also denied pharmacy workers formal training in medical abortion care, resulting in situations where they failed to provide correct dosage information, used their discretion in determining the price of abortifacients and to whom they would dispense the pills. For women, it contributed to limited interaction with providers and an inability to insist on their rights even in instances where the pills were sold at exorbitant prices.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Due to the increasing numbers of Ghanaian women using medical abortion pills from pharmacies, although it is illegal, the ideal would be for medical abortion pills to be made legally available through pharmacies. Given that this may not occur in the short term, an immediate solution would be to upskill pharmacy workers.</p>\",\"PeriodicalId\":9219,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health\",\"volume\":null,\"pages\":null},\"PeriodicalIF\":3.4000,\"publicationDate\":\"2023-10-01\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"3\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjsrh-2022-201674\",\"RegionNum\":3,\"RegionCategory\":\"医学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"2023/3/21 0:00:00\",\"PubModel\":\"Epub\",\"JCR\":\"Q1\",\"JCRName\":\"FAMILY STUDIES\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjsrh-2022-201674","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2023/3/21 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"FAMILY STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
Pharmacy dispensing of abortion pills in Ghana: experiences of pharmacy workers and users.
Background: Self-managed medical abortions are generally safe; however, pharmacy provision of abortion pills is against the Ghanaian abortion law. Nevertheless, evidence shows increasing numbers of women use it. An understanding of the influence of the law on pharmacies dispensing abortifacients and women who needed hospital care after using these pills is lacking. This study aimed to address this gap.
Methods: We conducted 26 interviews with eight pharmacy workers and 18 women who sought hospital care after using abortion pills. Study participants were recruited from private pharmacies and hospitals within the Ashanti Region of Ghana between June 2017 and March 2018. We employed phenomenology in analysing the data.
Results: Results show that criminalising medical abortion care from pharmacies does not stop abortions but rather drives it to be provided without oversight. It also denied pharmacy workers formal training in medical abortion care, resulting in situations where they failed to provide correct dosage information, used their discretion in determining the price of abortifacients and to whom they would dispense the pills. For women, it contributed to limited interaction with providers and an inability to insist on their rights even in instances where the pills were sold at exorbitant prices.
Conclusions: Due to the increasing numbers of Ghanaian women using medical abortion pills from pharmacies, although it is illegal, the ideal would be for medical abortion pills to be made legally available through pharmacies. Given that this may not occur in the short term, an immediate solution would be to upskill pharmacy workers.
期刊介绍:
BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health is a multiprofessional journal that promotes sexual and reproductive health and wellbeing, and best contraceptive practice, worldwide. It publishes research, debate and comment to inform policy and practice, and recognises the importance of professional-patient partnership.