Gynuity Health Projects Congratulates our Research Partner, Anand Tamang of CREHPA, on Winning Best Poster Prize at the 14th FIAPAC Conference

Gynuity Health Projects warmly congratulates Anand Tamang who was awarded the best poster prize at last week’s FIAPAC conference in Riga, Latvia.

The prize was awarded to the founding director of CREHPA for his presentation of a study to evaluate the implementation of an outpatient second trimester induction abortion service in two public hospitals outside Kathmandu.

The presentation highlighted results which demonstrate that, for pregnancies between 13 and 18 weeks, the ‘day service’ model is safe, feasible and highly acceptable. A cost analysis was also undertaken that shows significant cost savings when compared to standard multi-day hospitalization. The analysis has been informative for local decision makers.

Second trimester medication abortion procedures in Nepal typically require two to three days of inpatient hospitalization and compete for limited beds.

In this study, participants swallowed a 200mg tablet of mifepristone in-clinic or at home and 24 to 48 hours later took a 400mcg dose of misoprostol buccally within three hours of their outpatient clinic appointment. Repeat 400mcg doses of misoprostol were administered every three hours until the pregnancies were expelled. Participants who did not completely expel the pregnancy within the outpatient clinic hours were admitted as inpatients for continued misoprostol dosing. Participants were surveyed prior to discharge to understand their experience of the intervention and contacted two weeks later to inquire about any problems.

The new care model—which has since been introduced into routine care at the two participating sites in Butwal and Bharatpur—could help high-volume health facilities meet the needs of more patients while using fewer resources.

This project builds on our earlier published research in three private hospitals in Kathmandu, which found, for medication abortion at 13 to 18 weeks of gestation, an outpatient day process is safe, effective, and feasible when offered by various levels of health care providers.

The FIAPAC award recognizes the excellent work by Anand Tamang, Achala Shrestha and our other partners in Nepal, undertaken at a time when lockdowns and restrictions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic presented a series of significant challenges for clinical research.

In September 2022, Anand Tamang—founding director of the Center for Research on Environment Health and Population Activities (CREHPA), a Nepal-based not-for-profit consultancy and research organization—travelled to Latvia where he represented the co-authors of the poster at the 14th International Federation of Abortion and Contraception Professionals (FIAPAC) conference. Credit to the other co-authors from Gynuity Health Projects, CREHPA, KIST Medical College & Teaching Hospital, Lumbini Provincial Hospital, and Bharatpur Hospital.