Table 4

Abortion incidence rates from direct reporting, confidante method, AICM and modified AICM

NationalNorthern zoneMiddle zoneCoastal zone
Estimate95% CIEstimate95% CIEstimate95% CIEstimate95% CI
Direct reporting (abortions+MR*, 3-year annualised)3024 to 37106 to 172916 to 533721 to 66
Confidantes (3-year annualised)†6156 to 653426 to 436357 to 697163 to 79
AICM2722 to 321915 to 223021 to 402519 to 32
Modified AICM4136 to 472722 to 336048 to 722824 to 33
Final estimate‡44NA21NA54NA45NA
  • Northern zone includes Upper West, Upper East and Northern regions; Middle zone includes Brong-Ahafo, Ashanti, Eastern and Volta regions; Coastal zone includes Western, Central and Greater Accra regions.

  • *MR or action to bring back a late period without necessarily knowing whether one is pregnant.

  • †Adjusted for missing confidantes and transmission bias.

  • ‡Final estimate is the mean of the estimates from the three most valid approaches: direct reporting, confidante method and modified AICM. Instead of giving 95% CIs (which would risk overstating the certainty of this final estimate), we give lower and upper bounds based on the lowest and highest estimate (these are presented in the text).

  • AICM, Abortion Incidence Complications Method; MR, menstrual regulation.