Spotlighting Safe Abortion Supplies (SAS) at the GMM

The Safe Abortion Supplies (SAS) Workstream hosted its first-ever dedicated workstream meeting in person during RHSC’s General Membership Meeting in Accra. During the meeting, SAS Workstream Members explored themes related to resilience during COVID-19 and opportunities to leverage telemedicine and self-care in expanding access to safe abortion supplies, with presentations from Ghana, Zambia, Colombia, and Nigeria. Members also had the opportunity to participate in a values clarification and action transformation (VCAT) exercise, reflecting on the importance of empathy and centering efforts to expand access to safe abortion supplies on the end-user. Finally, workstream members unpacked opportunities related to quality, medical abortion markets, and advocacy efforts for a revised SAS Workstream Workplan.

Safe Abortion Supplies were also featured prominently in different parallel sessions throughout the GMM. Highlights include a session on access and opportunities for safe abortion supplies, which explored a landscape assessment on the availability of medical abortion medicines and the role that social marketing organizations have played in accelerating access to medical abortion, as well as a session focused on the quality of RH supplies, which featured a review of quality testing of mifepristone and misoprostol in 11 countries.