Dr Suchitra Dalvie: How The Pandemic Hindered Access To Safe Abortions

The pandemic has hit several healthcare services making people turn to online platforms seeking vital information and emergency resources to sail through the difficult times. Amid this ongoing crisis, Dr Dalvie and her team at Asia Safe Abortion Partnership (ASAP) started an online COVID-19 community for women to share their experiences of how they faced barriers in accessing safe abortions and reproductive health rights. The conversations led to a consensus that an intervention was required to mainstream the use of telemedicine counseling for early medical abortion, as well as to build an acceptance and understanding of self-managed medical abortion, both of which are very safe, according to Dr Dalvie.

In this fourth episode of ‘Safe Abortion Saves Lives’, Dr Dalvie emphasizes how the pandemic has shown a way to some mindful steps to address gaps in the healthcare system. This, according to Dr Dalvie, may lead to a greater good for women in accessing sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR).

Watch the video for more.

(Interviewed, produced and video edited by Nang Tanvi)