In Our Hands: How Mobile Technology is Revolutionizing Abortion Access for Youth Around the Globe
Worldwide, unsafe abortion affects young women disproportionately. Because of the many barriers to safe abortion, young women who decide to terminate a pregnancy often find no alternative than to resort to unsafe methods--even in settings where safe abortion is legal. Compared to adults, young women are also more likely to delay seeking abortion care or help for complications from unsafe abortion. At Ipas, we recognize the unique opportunity for mobile technology to advance young women's sexual and reproductive health and rights globally. During this presentation, we'll highlight projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America that use text, voice, mobile web and applications to improve access to abortion information, support and care for young women. We'll also focus on promising strategies to support youth-led project design and dissemination, as part of a wider social movement for young people's rights, and discuss ideas for creative project documentation.
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In Our Hands: How Mobile Technology is Revolutionizing Abortion Access for Youth Around the Globe
- 1. In Our Hands: How Mobile Technology is Revolutionizing Abortion Access for Youth Around the Globe Rebecca Braun, Ipas Inna Hudaya, Samsara YTH Live, April 26 – 28 2015 #YTHLive
- 15. INDONESIANS SPENT +3 HOURS ON INTERNET/DAY
- 20. Thank You!! Rebecca Braun, Ipas Inna Hudaya, Samsara braunr@ipas.org inna.hudaya@gmail.com @rebeccaannbraun @innahudaya YTH Live, April 26 – 28 2015 #YTHLive
Editor's Notes
- Good Morning! Along with my colleague Inna Hudaya, I’m excited to share with you all our work to revolutionize global youth access to abortion using mobile technology. At Ipas, we recognize the unique opportunity for mobile technology to advance young women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights. This presentation will share our efforts to improve young women’s abortion information, support and care globally. I am going to briefly introduce a few projects we’re working on, and then Inna will share in detail about the work she is doing in Indonesia to increase youth access to medical abortion.
- Worldwide, unsafe abortion affects young women disproportionately. Because of the many barriers to safe abortion, young women who decide to terminate a pregnancy often find no alternative than to resort to unsafe methods—even in settings where safe abortion is legal. Compared to adults, young women are also more likely to delay seeking abortion care or help for complications from unsafe abortion. By providing confidential abortion information and care that protects privacy and safety, and reduces stigma, mobile technology can be an effective strategy to support young women. And by engaging youth, mobile technology can encourage peer-to-peer interaction, and break down power dynamics that often disadvantage young women seeking abortion care.
- In South Africa, we’ve used SMS and mobile web to support young women receiving abortion services. We partnered with Cell Life to develop a free text message service for women who chose MA to receive support and follow-up information on their mobile phones. Women signed up for the SMS service with a healthcare provider when they started MA at a health facility. The messages also linked clients to ichoosewhen.co.za, a popular youth-focused South African mobisite that provides information on sexual and reproductive health. Ipas developed the abortion-related content for the site.
- In Zambia, we’re integrating safe abortion and contraception content into a popular mobile application called WRAPP, developed by Zamrize and the Asikana Network. Access to the WRAPP mobile application is provided for free in Zambia through Internet.org, which creates an exciting opportunity to dramatically expand access to abortion women for youth in Zambia. We’re also working with youth leaders at CTYA to develop an interactive radio program to share comprehensive SRHR information, including how to access the mobile application.
- In Kenya, we’re working to build a mobile community referral system for abortion services, so Community Health Workers can link young women to care. We hope that this system will improve the quality of the referral services, and our ability to follow up with young women to make sure their needs were met.
- In addition, we’re currently supporting 4 community based organizations in Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria and Indonesia to use mobile technology to help women access high quality medical abortion information and/or care at the community level. So let me hand it over to Inna from Samsara, to tell you what she has been doing!