Analyse des avortements a la maternite de l'hopital communautaire de Bangui

Abortion; i.e.; early termination of pregnancy; has few complications when it occurs spontaneously. However self-inflicted abortion (SIA) often leads to more or less serious complications. In view of the increasing number of abortion cases in our department; we undertook this ye a rlong transversal study to eva l u ate the incidence of SIA in the department; d e t e rmine the demographic characteristics of the women that practiced SIA; and identify the complications of SIA. Only ongoing or incomplete abortions were studied. Amenorrhea not related to pregnancy or associated with ectopic pregnancy was excluded from study. Clinical and demographic data were noted on forms specially designed by the research team. Data analysis yielded the following findings. Abortion accounted for 719 of the 5292 hospitalizations (13.6) in gynecology unit; including 43.4of SIA. Mean patient age was 24.7 ye a rs (ra n ge; 13 to 39). Spontaneous ab o rtion was more like ly to be observed in married women than in students who usually presented SIA. Wanted preg n a n cy was more like ly to be rep o rted by married women than by single woman who posed the problem of unwanted pregnancy. Students had more SIA. The main reasons for practicing SIA were financial (61.5). The most common methods used for SIA were drug combinations (39.1) and mechanicaltools (26.0). All seve re complications such as infection and death we re observed in women who practiced SIA. The high incidence of SIA in the department was especially disturbing due to the young age of the women involved and the severity of the complications. More action is needed to spread info rm ation on contracep t ive methods in schools and unive rsities to avoid unintendedpregnancies that drive young people to practice SIA

Comportement sexuel des etudiants de l'universite de Bangui (Centrafrique)

Encouraging re s p o n s i ble sexual behavior has become an important issue in recent ye a rs mainly due to the world-wide human immu n o d e fi c i e n cy virus (HIV) epidemic and to the high number of unwanted pregnancies that often end in highrisk abortions. Young people and in particular students in higher education are high-risk groups for both unwanted preg nancyand HIV. The purpose of this report is to describe the findings of a month-long survey conducted among students at the University of Bangui (UB) in 1998-1999. Individual students we re asked to give immediate responses to semi-open questions. The Chitest was used to assess corre l ation between a number of vari ables. A total of 422 UB students including 218 males (51.7) and 204females (48.3) were included in the survey. Mean age was 24.9 years for females and 26.1 years for males. Over half of the students of both sexes reported having their first sexual relation between the ages of 15 and 19 years. Males were more satisfied by their fi rst ex p e rience than females. The percent of married students (male or female) was 5.9. Most students (62.1) had at least 2 sex partners and 58.3had at least one child. The preferred contraceptive method was condom use for males and the Ogino technique for females. The percent of female students expressing fear of HIV infection was 27.4. The results of this study show that information and education campaigns are needed to encourage UB students to practice sexual behavior to avoid both unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV infection