%0 Journal Article
%T Midwifery tutors' capacity and willingness to teach contraception, post-abortion care, and legal pregnancy termination in Ghana
%A Gertrude Voetagbe
%A Nathaniel Yellu
%A Joseph Mills
%A Ellen Mitchell
%A Amanda Adu-Amankwah
%A Koma Jehu-Appiah
%A Felix Nyante
%J Human Resources for Health
%D 2010
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1478-4491-8-2
%X This study focused on all 14 midwifery schools in the country. A total of 74 midwifery tutors were interviewed for this study. Structured self-administered questionnaires were used for data collection. The data were entered and checked for consistencies using Epiinfo 6.04 and analyzed using Stata 8. Descriptive analysis was used and frequencies reported with percentages.In total, 74 midwifery tutors were interviewed. Of these, 66 (89.2%) were females. The tutors had mainly been trained as midwives (51.4%) and graduate nurses (33.8%). Respondents were predominantly Christians (97.3%).The study discovered that only 18.9% of the tutors knew all the legal indications under which safe abortion care could be provided. The content of pre-service training of tutors did not include uterine evacuation with manual vacuum aspirator (MVA).The study also highlighted some factors that influence midwifery tutors' willingness to teach comprehensive abortion care. It was also revealed that personal and religious beliefs greatly influence teaching of Comprehensive Abortion Care.The findings of this survey suggest that the majority of tutors did not know the abortion law in Ghana as well as the Ghana Health Service Reproductive Health Standards and Protocol. Thus, there is a need to enhance their capacities to teach the present pre-service students the necessary skills to offer CAC after school and to understand related issues such as related legal matters.According to the Ghana Medical Association, unsafe abortion is the second highest contributor to the country's maternal mortality ratio of 540 deaths per 100 000 live births [1]. A case review of hospital admissions during the calendar year 2000 at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (Ghana's largest teaching hospital) found that 41% of admissions were due to complications related to abortion [2]. Although most abortion complications are treatable, the risk of morbidity and mortality increases when treatment is delayed [3]. Delay in care
%U http://www.human-resources-health.com/content/8/1/2