Postabortion Care in Humanitarian Emergencies: Improving Treatment and Reducing Recurrence

This article summarizes how Save the Children applied a multipronged postabortion care (PAC) approach in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Somalia, and Yemen that focused on capacity building; assurance of supplies and infrastructure; community collaboration and mobilization; and monitoring and evaluation. The data demonstrate that providers can effectively shift away from sharp dilation and curettage (D&C) as treatment for PAC and that contraceptive uptake by PAC clients can increase substantially, even in settings where the use of contraception after abortion is often stigmatized.