Baltimore Sun Examines Obstetric Fistula in Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia

Friday, January 20, 2006

The Baltimore Sun...examine[s] the problem of obstetric fistulas in parts of sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (Minaya, Baltimore Sun, 1/20/06). The condition develops when a fetus becomes lodged during labor in the narrow birth canal of a young woman, causing pressure that blocks blood to vital tissues and tearing holes in the bowel, urethra or both (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 9/28/05). In addition to the physical effects of fistulas, including infected sores on the legs and feet and nerve damage, women who suffer from obstetric fistulas often are left by their husbands and shunned by their families and communities because of the odor caused by the constant leakage of urine, according to the Sun. Obstetric fistulas can be prevented with caesarean-section deliveries, but women usually ask a relative or neighbor with no professional training to help them with the delivery because walking to a clinic -- which usually is a long distance from rural villages -- is not feasible, Kate Ramsey, a technical specialist at the U.N. Population Fund's Campaign to End Fistula, said. Surgery can repair fistulas, and the procedure costs about $300, but there is debate over the success rate of the procedure, according to the Sun. Physicians can repair a small fistula during a 1.5 hour surgery, but to repair a larger fistula and restore a woman's continence might require more than one surgery, according to Marcella Roenneburg, a doctor who has conducted surgical missions in the region. According to Ramsey, fistulas are a problem that is more efficient to prevent than to fix later (Baltimore Sun, 1/20).

http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=34890