title: Costs of postabortion care in public sector health facilities in Malawi: a cross-sectional survey.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Health systems could obtain substantial cost savings by providing safe abortion care rather than providing expensive treatment for complications of unsafely performed abortions. This study estimates current health system costs of treating unsafe abortion complications and compares these findings with newly-projected costs for providing safe abortion in Malawi.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted in-depth surveys of medications, supplies, and time spent by clinical personnel dedicated to postabortion care (PAC) for three treatment categories (simple, severe non-surgical, and severe surgical complications) and three uterine evacuation (UE) procedure types (manual vacuum aspiration (MVA), dilation and curettage (D&C) and misoprostol-alone) at 15 purposively-selected public health facilities. Per-case treatment costs were calculated and applied to national, annual PAC caseload data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median cost per D&C case ($63) was 29% higher than MVA treatment ($49). Costs to treat severe non-surgical complications ($63) were almost five times higher than those of a simple PAC case ($13). Severe surgical complications were especially costly to treat at $128. PAC treatment in public facilities cost an estimated $314,000 annually. Transition to safe, legal abortion would yield an estimated cost reduction of 20%-30%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The method of UE and severity of complications have a large impact on overall costs. With a liberalized abortion law and implementation of induced abortion services with WHO-recommended UE methods, current PAC costs to the health system could markedly decrease.
authors.affiliation: Ipas, Chapel Hill, NC, USA. bensonj@ipas.org.
authors.forename: Janie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Benson
authors.affiliation: Ipas, Nairobi, Kenya. gebreselassieh@ipas.org.
authors.forename: Hailemichael
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gebreselassie
authors.affiliation: Ipas, Durham, NC, USA. maribel.manibo@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Maribel Amor
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Mañibo
authors.affiliation: Ipas, Baltimore, MD, USA. keris.raisanen@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Keris
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Raisanen
authors.affiliation: Reproductive Health and Rights consultant, Geneva, Switzerland. heidibartjohnston@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Heidi Bart
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Johnston
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine, University of Malawi, Blantyre, Malawi. cmhango@globemw.net.
authors.forename: Chisale
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mhango
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, SUNY Upstate Medical University, 475 Irving Avenue, Suite 200, Syracuse, NY, 13210, USA. levandob@upstate.edu.
authors.forename: Brooke A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Levandowski
mesh_terms: D000028:Abortion, Induced / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000359:Aftercare; D017046:Cost Savings; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006268:Health Facilities; D006801:Humans; D008295:Malawi; D016595:Misoprostol; D011182:Postoperative Care / Q000191:economics*; D011247:Pregnancy; D017150:Public Sector; D014619:Vacuum Curettage
chemical_list: D016595:Misoprostol