The EngenderHealth ACQUIRE Project has been supporting the Tanzanian Ministry of Health (MOH) since early 2005 to decentralize the management of postabortion care (PAC) services to primary healthcare facilities (health centers and dispensaries), with the intention of bringing services closer to women who are unable to access them at district hospitals. Findings from this study were provided to the MOH and ACQUIRE to address issues arising from introduction of the intervention; and in September 2006, to assess the feasibility, cost, and effectiveness of the intervention. Findings show that the intervention appears to have broadened service providers’ range of clinical skills and led to an increase in the number of women accessing family planning services after the evacuation. Facilities are well prepared to provide the PAC services, and few clients were being referred for advanced clinical management for incomplete abortions within 12 weeks of conception. The report concludes that decentralizing PAC services to health centers and dispensaries is feasible and effective, and the approach could be scaled up at a reasonable cost to other lower level facilities in Tanzania
