2023 was Ipas last year of implementation in the initial 3 year project. Ipas has been able to achieve some remarkable results related to the Abortion Ecosystem, which has also demonstrated where Sweden can have an added value when it comes to supporting the agenda for rights-based access to
reproductive health services. Looking at the abortion Eco system and Ipas targets for the project they have been able to deliver some remarkable results, and in some cases surpass
targets, e.g., they were able to:
-Lobby more critical support from leaders, such as Ministers at national and provincial levels, Go into more provinces than planned, during 2022-2023 they expanded their activities to include also Ituri, Kwilu, Kasai Central and Kasai. This is in addition to Kinshasa, Tanganyika, North Kivu and South Kivu,
-Engage more partners/organisations than initially planned,
-Partner with DKT to advocate for abortion rights and that abortion commodities made it onto the list of essential drugs,
-Developed "Nurse Nisa" the chatbot on whatsapp that provides accurate SRHR information and referral,
-Have a major impact on policy and legislation by getting an executive order to train magistrates and continuing their efforts to make the Maputo Protocol known and having the penal code adjusted accordingly (this is still not done),
-Strengthen the health system by training health care providers on the new Standards and Guidelines, and training pharmacists (100 pharmacies have been trained) and introducing telehealth (DKT has also introduced telehealth which is a complement),
-Bring abortion into the public space for discussion, through twitter marathons, radio shows etc. (DKT has done the same),
-Worked with Ministry of Health (MoH) to develop a chapter on safe abortion that has been included in the curriculum for Gynecology and Obstetrics at Kinshasa School of Medicine,
-Managed to work with MoH to have abortion indicators included in the DHIS2,
These are among few examples of the impressive results Ipas has been able to achieve in a short space of time, especially considering that abortion was almost fully illegal until 5 years ago. Another positive aspect has been the collaboration between DKT and Ipas, something the Embassy introduced back in 2021 and early 2022. This collaboration has led to joint advocacy, new collaborations in Kinshasa and Burundi, funded by the Netherlands, among other things
