The International Federation of Gynaecologist and Obstetricians FIGO and member societies amongst which is Sogoc Cameroon is commemorating the first anniversary of The Livingstone Safe Abortion Care Charter adopted and launched on March 18, 2023.
The Livingstone Safe Abortion Care Charter was initially discussed by Obstetric and Gynecological OBGYN societies from East, Central, and Southern Africa and quickly gained support from societies from across the continent.
Professor Emile Mboudou, President SOGOC Cameroon took the commitment on behalf of the society.
The Charter focuses on seven key priority areas that OBGYNs identified to address the scale of unsafe abortion – a leading cause of preventable maternal deaths and disabilities. The national societies pledged to leverage their clinical expertise and resources to promote safe abortion, a time-sensitive and essential health care.
The Livingstone Safe Abortion Care Charter reaffirms the commitment of Obstetric and Gynecological societies in their respective countries, to strengthen access to safe abortion care for women and girls. This will be done by creating enabling environments within which health systems function and healthcare professionals are empowered to meet the needs and entitlements of the women and girls we serve.
Collectively, the signatories pledged to leverage their clinical expertise and resources to address the scale of unsafe abortion in Africa.
The parties to this charter agree to:
1 Strengthen access to safe abortion care through interventions that promote self-managed abortion care.
2 Ensure access to safe abortion care is integrated as a key component within our professional society’s strategic mandate to deliver on sexual and reproductive health and rights. This includes integrating the need for safe abortion care within our sexual reproductive health activities and collating data on related abortion services to inform policies and programs.
3 Enhance the organizational and technical capacity of our national society, to advocate for safe and quality abortion care by ensuring our professional society has accessible guidance in place for our members and relevant stakeholders. We commit to ensuring this guidance is centered on up-to-date clinical advancements and human rights standards.
4 Address abortion-related stigma that nurtures hostile environments for health care advocates and denies women and girls access to quality abortion care by utilizing tools such as values clarification and attitude transformation.
5 Work with the World Health Organization, Ministries of Health, and relevant stakeholders to prioritize the alignment of WHO’s Abortion care guideline (2022) and ensure training on safe abortion care is an essential part of professional development for health care professionals – integrate it into lifelong learning to ensure health services are universally available.
SOGOC Executive
6 Work on behalf of and with marginalized population groups at high risk of maternal mortality and morbidity, this includes young people/adolescents, by advocating for their right to access sexual reproductive health services and age-appropriate and evidence-based information.
7 Advocate for the decriminalization of abortion care and urge our governments to regulate it like any other health care provision. Decriminalizing abortion refers to the removal of specific criminal and/or civil sanctions against abortion from the law, so that no one is punished for having, providing or supporting access to abortion.
The signatories include Cameroon, Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mali, Rwanda, Zambia, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique and Uganda.
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