Acceptance of Contraception after Illegal Abortion in Antananarivo, Madagascar

Introduction: Abortion is a crime in Madagascar, it is realized clandestinely. Our objectives were to determine the acceptance rate of contraception and the reason for refusal in hospitalized patients for complications of illegal abortion.

Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive study of the cases of complication of illegal abortion admitted to CENHOSOA, Military Hospital of Antananarivo, Madagascar, from the first of June 2011 to the 31st of March 2013. We have included all the cases of abortion declared and cases whose abortion was found in the genital tract of the patient.

Results: We collected 42 cases out of 1432 births. The most affected were women aged between 25 and 30 (52.39%), were married (57.14%) and without a profession (47.42%). Only 16.67% of the patients had accepted contraception at the exit of the hospital: 3 students, 3 housewives and an employee. In the majority of cases the reason for refusal was hearsay stating that contraception is bad for health (47.62%) followed by fear of husband (28.77%).

Conclusion: Clandestine abortion is a national scourge. A major effort needs to be made in the «destigmatization» of contraception in population.

Keywords: Illegal abortion, Contraception, Antananarivo, Madagascar.