Fight against maternal mortality : SOGOC advocates for safe abortionSOGOC abortion

The launching ceremony of this new project of the Society of Gynecologists and Obstetricians of Cameroon, was held on May 03, 2023 in Yaounde.

Rostand TCHAMI

Maternal mortality is a major public health problem worldwide and in Cameroon. According to 2018 data from the Ministry of Public Health, Cameroon records 406 deaths per 100,000 live births. Nowadays, the maternal mortality rate is still unfortunately high. And according to the Society of Gynecologists and Obstetricians of Cameroon (SOGOC), 1 in 4 maternal deaths is due to abortion complications in Cameroon. Hence the urgent need to unite forces to reduce the maternal mortality rate to zero. This is why the Society of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians of Cameroon (SOGOC) through the Advocacy for Safe Abortion (ACAC) project, which is a partnership project with the International Federation of Gynaecologists
and Obstetricians, is working to fight against maternal mortality related to abortion. The official launching ceremony of this new project was held on 03 May 2023 in Yaoundé. The occasion allowed the Secretary General of SOGOC to shed light on the concept of safe abortion.
“Safe abortion is an abortion that will be performed by a person who has been trained to do an abortion, that is to say, who has the skills to do an abortion, in a setting that respects all the technical conditions to perform the abortion.
So a gynaecologist who may be trained but does not have the right equipment will not perform a safe abortion,” said Dr Mwadjie Darolles, Gynaecologist-Obstetrician, Secretary General of SOGOC. Concerning the potential beneficiaries of this form of voluntary interruption
of pregnancy, she relied on the legal provisions in force. “Cameroonian law does however frame abortion in Cameroon. That is to say that the law has specified that abortion is possible in Cameroon, in the context of pregnancies that occur after rape or when the mother’s life is in danger. However,
we realised that both health professionals and the population are not yet aware of these specific provisions of Cameroonian law,” she said. She added, “so the SOGOC, through the ACAC, would like to provide a safe abortion project for those cases that are eligible under Cameroonian law in order to reduce maternal mortality linked to abortionse ». Because, she concludes, “a woman who dies is one death too many, especially when it is a preventable death ». Access to safe abortion The occasion was also an opportunity for these health professionals
to invite young girls to stop having abortions with the quacks in the neighbourhood at the risk of their lives. “We denounce abortion practices by traditional practitioners and that is why we say that safe abortion is possible in health facilities but within the framework of Cameroonian legislation,” said Dr. Mwadjie Darolles. As a reminder, this new SOGOC project on safe abortion follows a first one that was carried out in 2022. The main objective then was to capacitate SOGOC members in skills for the establishment of facilities for access to safe abortion for eligible cases in the sense of the Cameroonian law.