Advances and challenges in postabortion care operations research: Summary report of a global meeting

Abstract

The Global Meeting on Postabortion Care: Advances and Challenges in Operations Research was held at the Population Council’s New York office on January 19–21, 1998, to review progress made by three regional operations research (OR) projects in improving delivery of postabortion care. The resources of the three OR contracts were pooled, and, in collaboration with Ipas and the Ebert Program, approximately 65 researchers, senior program managers, and government officials from Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia were convened. Three objectives guided the planning of the meeting: review progress in the development of OR methodologies pertaining to postabortion care, identify elements in the design of new postabortion care services, and suggest future areas for postabortion care OR. The meeting was organized around the presentation of 20 papers distributed to all participants several weeks earlier. Discussants presented critical syntheses of the papers and indicated directions for future OR studies. This report presents a summary overview of the principal themes and key points drawn from the papers and discussions, organized according to the theme of each session.