When a lack of access to safe abortion care threatens to stop girls and women in their tracks, Association voix pour les femmes d’Afrique Centrale (VPFAC) works to keep open the pathway to their future, through community-based advocacy and individual support.
The Central African Republic has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, largely due to unsafe abortion. In Lobaye, this is exacerbated by a lack of appropriate health infrastructure, social stigma, misinformation about safe abortion and a shortage of trained health providers. Although some cases are authorised, the legal framework remains restrictive, making access to services more difficult.
Educating communities to save lives
Grace (not her real name), a 17-year-old girl living in a remote village in the Lobaye prefecture in the Central African Republic, had her life turned upside down when she became pregnant after non-consensual sex. Frightened and ashamed, she considered using dangerous methods to terminate her pregnancy like other girls she knew.
One day, she heard about an awareness-raising session on sexual and reproductive health rights organised by VPFAC in her village. She discreetly attended and learned that safe abortion services were available under certain conditions. The project’s community outreach workers supported her with a confidential referral to a partner health facility, where she received appropriate care and psychosocial support.
VPFAC’s ‘Community Based Opportunity Desk for Safe Pregnancy Termination in Lobaye’ project aims to reduce unsafe abortions and their deadly consequences by improving access to safe services and raising community awareness of the sexual and reproductive rights of women and girls. Their integrated approach includes:
- training health providers: essential for quality and safety of services
- participatory community approach: mobilising leaders to reduce stigma
- political and social advocacy: dialogue with decision-makers to improve policy
- discreet and secure referral mechanisms: to ensure confidential access
- psychosocial support: to accompany women and avoid the trauma of stigma
The project faces cultural and religious resistance, with some communities remaining opposed to abortion. Despite this challenge, raising awareness among 35,000 community members, training over 250 health providers and setting up a community support network, have all improved the availability of services and fuelled a gradual change in community perceptions.
Today, Grace has returned to school and is involved in educating other young girls about the dangers of unsafe abortion and the importance of safe reproductive health services. Her testimony has encouraged others to seek help and helped to reduce the stigma around abortion in her community. By offering a safe solution and caring support, the project not only saved her life but gave her hope for the future.
