Reducing delays in seeking abortion among women who visit health facilities for safe abortion service in Mekelle City, Ethiopia: Pre-post interventional study

Objectives T his study assessed the effect of health education on reducing the delay in seeking abortion in Mekelle health facilities, Tigray region, Ethiopia. Design A pre-post interventional study design with sample size of 322 women. Setting The study was conducted in 12 health facilities at Mekelle, Tigray, Ethiopia between February 1st through September 30th, 2020 Participants All women who have attended safe abortion services in Mekelle health facilities during the time of the data collection period were the study population. Intervention Women education on the Ethiopian abortion law, availability of abortion services, and optimal time of pregnancy termination using 1000 leaflets, 20 street posters for 3 months. Results Compared to the pre-intervention group, a much change in reducing the gestational age in weeks was observed in the post intervention period to terminate the pregnancy with 9.8 decrease per 100 respondents (95% CI 9.25 to 10.36) and a Cohen’s d value of 5.23 was found. Besides, there was statistically significant difference between the pre and post-intervention on the respondent knowledge on the possibility of termination pregnancy based on wish according to Ethiopian abortion law at a p-value of < 0.024. Conclusions Women’s health education on the availability of safe service and optimal gestational age for termination has led to a significant reduction of the delay in weeks with large effect size. Moreover, it brings a statistically significant difference on respondent knowledge of Ethiopian abortion law. We recommend further randomized contrail study involving three face delays of safe abortion service. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement The study was was funded by Family Planing By Choice Project ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: Institutional Review Board of Mekelle University College of Health Sciences gave approval for this work. I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable. Yes All data produced in the present work are contained in the manuscript