Where We Work

Latin America & the Caribbean

Middle East & North Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa

United States

Multi-regional

What We Do

Across Sub-Saharan Africa, access to abortion is often severely restricted, and 44% of the nearly 68,000 women who die annually from unsafe abortion live in Africa.(1) Unmet need for contraception (that is, the proportion of women who want to space births, or who do not want any more children but are not currently using a contraceptive method) is highest in sub-Saharan Africa, and across the region only 23% of married women use a modern contraceptive method, compared to 73% in the Latin America and Caribbean region and 78% in industrialized countries.(2) In addition, the vast majority of the world’s HIV-infected people live in sub-Saharan Africa, and women comprise over 60% of adults living with HIV in the region.

 

South Africa is one of the countries hardest hit by the HIV epidemic. It is also home to the world’s most progressive abortion law. Since the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act was passed in 1996, death from unsafe abortion has declined by more than 90%.(3)

 

Ibis’s work in South Africa and the broader sub-Saharan region addresses a wide range of reproductive health issues, including abortion, contraception, and HIV/sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention. We conduct clinical, operations, and social science research to evaluate new technologies, identify ways to improve service delivery, and simplify abortion and contraception methods. We also advocate for increased research on female-controlled HIV prevention methods, such as microbicides, and increased investment in female condoms, currently the only female-initiated HIV prevention option for women.

 

We also aim to effectively link our work across all of these areas to both maximize reproductive health gains and better support women to have healthy and satisfying reproductive lives. We are increasingly linking our work on HIV/STIs with work on contraception and abortion, and we are currently leading two studies among HIV-positive women in Kenya and adolescent health care providers in South Africa to build evidence for the effectiveness of service delivery strategies that address a wider range of women’s reproductive health needs.

 

We work closely with local colleagues to use our research to advocate for improved reproductive health policies and service delivery guidelines that reflect the best evidence, ensuring women reap the benefits of global research investments.

 

 

Projects:

• Increasing access to medication abortion in South Africa
• Improving second trimester abortion services in South Africa
• Pharmacist attitudes toward emergency contraception in South Africa
• Methods for Improving Reproductive Health in Africa (MIRA) trial
• MIRA Social Science Study
• MIRA Standard of Care Impact Evaluation
• Providers’ perceptions of the diaphragm in Southern Africa and the United States
• Review of the literature on sexual behavior and knowledge in South Africa
• Integrating family planning into HIV care and treatment in Western Kenya
• Developing and evaluating a health care provider intervention to improve young women’s sexual and reproductive health in Soweto, South Africa
• Clinical trials training course at University of the Witswatersrand

References:

1. WHO. Unsafe abortion: global and regional estimates of the incidence of unsafe abortion and associated mortality in 2000. 4th edition. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2000.

2. UNICEF Statistics: Fertility and Contraceptive Use. http://www.childinfo.org/eddb/fertility/index.htm. Accessed March 20, 2008.

3 Jewkes R, Reese H, Dickson K, Brown H, Levin J. The impact of age on the epidemiology of incomplete abortions in South Africa after legislative change. BJOG: an International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. 2005: 112, 355–359.

4. UNAIDS, WHO. 2007 AIDS epidemic update. Geneva: UNAIDS, WHO, 2007.

 

Ibis publications on Sub-Saharan Africa can be found here.