Training pharmacists, community health workers, and community members on safe abortion

Introduction
Generation Initiative for Women and Youth Network (GIWYN) is a community-based organization aimed at empowering and educating women and youth to lead healthy sexual and reproductive lives in Nigeria. GIWYN also supports the Ms. Rosy safe abortion hotline, which provides information and counselling to those seeking to safely terminate their pregnancies. GIWYN has recently focused their efforts on reaching ‘high-priority communities’ (HPCs), defined broadly as communities that face the greatest barriers to accessing sexual and reproductive health services. These include sex workers; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) people; adolescents; and internally displaced people (IDP) and refugees. To expand access to information and support on abortion to these communities, GIWYN has trained a variety of community members and healthcare workers on the topic of safe abortion. In 2022 and 2023, GIWYN trained 16 pharmacists, 16 community health workers (CHWs), and 9 HPC peer educators. We conducted in-depth interviews with a subset of training attendees (n = 12), as well as with individuals from high-priority communities who received support and care from the Ms. Rosy hotline and/or individuals who participated in the training (n = 10). The aim of the interviews was to understand participants’ experiences with the trainings and identify ways to strengthen the trainings and improve service provision for HPC members. Interviews were coded and analyzed thematically, and findings are presented below.