Increasing access to safe abortion in rural Rajasthan: Outcomes of a comprehensive abortion care model

This report describes an assessment by the Population Council of the Comprehensive Abortion Care (CAC) model implemented in Tonk district, Rajasthan. Findings highlight that at the time of the baseline survey, the availability of abortion services was limited; also evident was the poor quality of abortion-related care. Given this context, and given the short duration of implementation, the changes achieved by the intervention are promising. The district-level CAC model succeeded in strengthening facilities, training providers, and increasing women’s access to safe abortion services at the Primary Health Centre level. Community-level activities were less successful, attributable to a considerable extent to the short duration during which community engagement took place. Both the facility- and the community-based components were feasible to implement and can be integrated into existing government services without much additional investment.