Communities Take Action in Kenya: Strengthening Postabortion Care

The RESPOND Project designed an intervention package aimed at increasing awareness and use of post-abortion care (PAC) services and improving family planning, reproductive health, and maternal health outcomes. Known as the Community Mobilization for Post-abortion Care (COMMPAC) intervention, this package builds on efforts by The ACQUIRE Project (2005–2007) to address PAC and increase family planning uptake by focusing on the central role that communities can play in improving access to services. RESPOND worked with districts and communities to: strengthen service delivery points to provide PAC services; conduct community mobilization to improve community members’ involvement in and knowledge about the prevention and treatment of post-abortion complications; build communities’ capacity to address needs related to PAC; and encourage those most marginalized and most affected by post-abortion complications to engage in community action to improve the situation. The intervention package was carried out in selected communities in Naivasha District over an 18-month period, from July 2010 to December 2011 (Undie, Obare, & RamaRao, 2012).