Researchers in Action
99% of our sample thought that a husband’s consent was always or sometimes needed to have a pregnancy termination. That’s not part of the law.
Ann M. Moore
Principal Research Scientist
“The fieldworkers were exhausted from the physical difficulty, which made it harder for them to conduct long, complicated interviews,” said Ann M. Moore, a Principal Research Scientist at the Guttmacher Institute, who leads the global abortion research portfolio. Moore recently completed a multiyear study on the displaced Rohingya population living in makeshift, crowded camps in Bangladesh.
“We lost one fieldworker because she was pregnant and her doctor told her that she shouldn’t be doing this work. We lost another who twisted her ankle because the conditions were so rough walking around the camps,” said Moore. Humanitarian contexts are particularly challenging for research and data collection, yet the resident populations represent some of the world’s most vulnerable communities, with experiences that are not widely documented nor understood among policymakers.
Guttmacher began assessing research needs in humanitarian settings back in 2016, including in the Cox’s Bazar district in Bangladesh. Nearly a million Rohingya people currently live in that camp, after fleeing persecution in Myanmar in 2017. Among many barriers to their freedom, women living in the camp face severe constraints on their mobility and can find themselves at risk if seen outside by men who are not relatives living in the same home. The study Moore led was designed to shed light on these women’s experiences with menstrual regulation, abortion and postabortion care since arriving in the camps seven years ago.
To collect data on the ground in Cox’s Bazar, Guttmacher partnered with the James P. Grant School of Public Health at BRAC University and the Association for Prevention of Septic Abortion, Bangladesh (BAPSA). “They were our guides and our teachers,” said Moore, who relied on colleagues at BRAC to manage fieldwork when she and her team of researchers from Guttmacher couldn’t be on the ground. The project required hiring 23 local fieldworkers who could not be residents of the camps due to employment restrictions and social norms. To communicate during interviews, the fieldworkers translated written questionnaires from Bangladeshi to spoken Rohingya, as the Rohingya language is not commonly written or read.
Researchers from the Guttmacher Institute in Bangladesh gathering data that will become the report Understanding Menstrual Regulation and Abortion Among Rohingya in Bangladesh.
(Photo by Guttmacher Institute)
“Building a good rapport with respondents is essential for asking sensitive questions, but in these conditions, it was particularly difficult. Each obstacle strengthened my resolve to enhance this sector and advocate tirelessly for marginalized populations,” said Pragna Pramita Mondal, who served as field supervisor, conducting rigorous training for the local data collectors.
Though the study was challenging to execute, Moore is optimistic about its impact, particularly in illustrating how Rohingya women’s knowledge about their right to care can be improved. “There’s misinformation, as well as a lack of information, and that could mean women are not seeking services when they are actually entitled to them. For example, 99% of our sample thought that a husband’s consent was always or sometimes needed to have a pregnancy termination, and that’s not part of the law.”
When presented with the findings, the Bangladeshi government asked Guttmacher to set up a similar study for the broader Bangladeshi population, adding to decades of research from Guttmacher and its partners. Meanwhile, Guttmacher will continue to amplify its findings from the Rohingya study with partners in Bangladesh and in other humanitarian settings.
You can learn more about Guttmacher’s impact in our 2024 Impact Report