Women’s experience and perceptions of quality of post-abortion care (PAC) at public health facilities in Nigeria
Abortion is restricted by law in Nigeria except to save a woman’s life and most abortion procedures are performed under unsafe, clandestine conditions. In Nigeria, abortion related complications contribute a significant percentage of maternal mortality. Using data from exit interviews and in-depth interviews with Post-abortion care (PAC) clients following their discharge from care, we assessed PAC clients’ experience with provision of post-abortion care as well as their perceptions of the quality of the quality of PAC at public health hospitals in Nigeria. Post-abortion care (PAC) was introduced in public health systems as a way to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity in settings where abortion laws are restrictive. Our findings show that waiting time for treatment at the public institutions across the country was relatively short. PAC clients were satisfied with the prompt attention they received at the facilities. Our findings further revealed that PAC clients were generally satisfied with post-abortion care they received at the health institutions mainly because of the positive and humane attitudes exhibited towards them by the health professionals. However, few of the PAC clients expressed dissatisfaction with PAC services at the public health institutions due to the provocative nature of some health professionals.