PURPOSE:
Despite abortion being legal in Benin, access to safe abortion services remains limited, contributing to preventable maternal deaths, 15% of which are due to unsafe abortions. To address this gap, Plan International Benin and Maternity Foundation partnered to contextualise the global Safe Abortion module in the Safe Delivery App (SDA) to align with Benin’s national guidelines and develop a tailored training package for midwives.

DISCUSSION:
To ensure that midwives have the necessary knowledge and skills to provide safe abortion care (SAC), Maternity Foundation, along with key stakeholders, developed a Benin-specific SAC training package and a module for the Safe Delivery App (SDA). The SDA is an evidence-based job aid, learning and training tool designed to support midwives in assisting birth and managing the most common complications. A Training of Trainers was conducted for 10 midwife trainers on SAC in Porto-Novo, who then cascaded the training to 60 midwives.

EVIDENCE WHERE RELEVANT:
Pre- and post-training assessments showed significant improvements in midwives’ knowledge, confidence, and skills in providing safe abortion care. Since the module’s launch in July 2024, over 120 healthcare professionals have actively used the SDA Safe Abortion module. Preliminary facility-level data from two regions indicate an increase in the provision of safe abortion services. Additional data collection is ongoing and will be available ahead of ICM 2026.

KEY MESSAGE:
This initiative demonstrates that collaborative efforts on sensitive topics, along with contextualised training and digital tools like the SDA, can enhance access to safe abortion care. Tailoring global tools to national realities builds professional capacity and strengthens health systems to provide quality care to women and adolescent girls. SRHR - Abortion training