"With Love, Labor, Loss,
EngenderHealth Campaigns Against Fistula"

Lisa Russell of Duchess Films and Erika Sinclair of EngenderHealth joined Future Choices to recount their observations of the horrific impact of obstetric fistula on women in Niger (West Africa) and the program of action which EngenderHealth has undertaken to improve their prospectes for productive lives.

Brief Bio for Erika Sinclair

Brief Bio for Lisa Russell

Further Reading on Obstetric Fistula

  • What is Obstetric Fistula? How does it occur? -->>Read further: FAQ from UNFPA.
  • "Ask a person from the developed world about “obstetric fistula” and it’s likely you’ll get a blank stare..." -->>Read further for better understanding of this dreadful affliction.
  • "An obscure health problem that affects only women..." -->>Read further about this "crisis that modern public health systems have failed to address adequately."
  • The story of Ngozi, a young woman in a rural, isolated village in Africa struggling to give birth and in desperate need of basic medical assistance is the classic story of the prelude to obstetric fistula. -->>Read further.
  • The devastating childbirth injury, obstetric fistula is widespread in the developing world, where an estimated 2 million women suffer from the debilitating aftereffects of prolonged obstructed labor. -->>Read further in The Facts about Obstetric Fistula: The Hidden Heartbreak.
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• Extend your knowledge about obstetric fistula through further reading.

Brief Bios for
Erika Sinclair and Lisa Russell

erikaErika Sinclair has been a Program Associate with Maternity Care Program for EngenderHealth since 2002. In that role she has:

• Conducted first ever hospital-based needs assessment study of obstetric fistula repair services in nine African countries, managing on-the-ground work in four countries; findings laid the groundwork for the Global Campaign to End Fistula
• Designed, implemented, and monitored a project for the prevention and treatment of obstetric fistula in Niger
• Co-developed a draft training curriculum to improve the quality of counseling skills for health care providers.

She is a 1996 graduate Summa Cum Laude from Spelman College (Atlanta, GA) and was certificated in 2002 by Mills College (Oakland, CA) in their Post-Baccalaureate Premedical Program. Prior to joining EngenderHealth she was a College Health Program Student Assistant at Mills College and an active volunteer health worker at Women's Choice Clinic, also in Oakland.

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Lisa Russell was the producer/director of "Love, Labor, Loss," a documentary film spotlighting the issue of obstetric fistula in Niger, West Africa. She has produced/directed a number of other advocacy films including "Settling in Seattle," (Governess Films) which focuses on refugee resettlement through the eyes of four refugee youth from Iraq, Sudan, Kosovo and Vietnam. Lisa is also a media and communications consultant for the international community. Her clients have included: UNAIDS, US Committee for UNFPA, UNFPA, Relief International, World Links and others. A resident of Brooklyn, NY, Lisa serves on the Board of Directors for Urban Word NYC - an after-school spoken word poetry organization for NYC teens.

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