Awareness and practice of post abortion care services among health care professionals in southeastern Nigeria.

This study investigates knowledge and practices of post abortion care (PAC) services among health care professionals in the Anambra State of southeastern Nigeria. This was a prospective, cross-sectional, questionnaire based study conducted between 1 June and 30 September, 2006. The study involved a multi-staged sampling of all registered health facilities in Anambra State, with the selection of 60 health facilities from which 450 participants were recruited. A pre-tested, structured questionnaire was employed to obtain information from the studied respondents. Obtained data were analyzed using Epi-Info version 2001. A total of 437 questionnaires out of 450 administered were accurately completed, giving a response rate of 97.1%. The respondents were comprised of general practitioners (214, 49.0%), nurses (161, 36.8%), specialist doctors (56, 12.8%), and resident doctors (5, 1.1%). The mean age of the respondents was 38.2 +/- 10.5 years. Most participants (203, 52.6%) were males; the majority (282, 64.5%) were working in the rural areas of the State, including mission hospitals (165, 37.8%) and general hospitals (145, 33.3%). Three hundred thirty respondents (75.5%) were aware of PAC services. Twenty-seven (6.2%) and 28 (6.4%) of respondents were aware of community partnership and family planning services, respectively, as elements of PAC. Although the majority of respondents (302, 69.1%) treated abortion complications, only 155 (35.5%) used a manual vacuum aspirator. Three hundred thirty-eight (88.8%) offered counseling services, and 248 (56.8%) provided referrals to other reproductive health services.