The goal of NAF's clinical trainings is to assist health care professionals in different countries and sites
in building their capacity to improve the quality of abortion care they provide women. These programs are directly funded by grants or by the sites
themselves.
NAF is working in collaboration with the Open Society Institute and Ipas to establish the use of Manual
Vacuum Aspiration (MVA) for first trimester abortion in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and former Soviet Union countries. These comprehensive trainings on
abortion care and MVA have been conducted in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia; Moldova; Macedonia; Albania; Kyrgyzstan; and Georgia.
With significant expertise in training medical abortion providers, NAF is working with Gynuity Health
Projects to develop and provide training on mifepristone in conjunction with the launch of an operations research study in South Africa. This study will
provide the National Department of Health with the data on how acceptable mifepristone is to both providers and patients in the public health system. Our
goal is to demonstrate the feasibility of integrating medical abortion into termination of pregnancy services in South Africa's public health sector.
In May 2002, a team of NAF faculty worked with colleagues to train physicians in MVA using local anesthesia at a hospital in Chisinau, Moldova. By November 2002, the number of Moldovan physicians trained in MVA had increased to 25. MVA
has become the principal method of abortion at the hospital, and counseling and local anesthesia have become a routine practice in care. Learn more about our
work in Moldova.
NAF's internationally-acknowledged expertise in training for medical abortion provision led to a collaboration with Gynuity Health Projects on a clinical operations research study in South Africa.
The results of preliminary feasibility and costing studies had been favorable. Taken together, these research findings provided a broad base of data to the National Department of Health demonstrating that the provision of mifepristone abortion within the public health system is safe, effective, and feasible, and will be acceptable to both providers and patients.
Our long-term goal is to assist the integration of high-quality medical abortion into current termination of pregnancy services in South Africa's public health sector. Learn more about our work in South Africa.
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