Obstetric Fistula --
What is it? Where is it found?

  • "KATSINA, Nigeria - Dr. Kees Waaldijk began surgery shortly before 10 a.m. one recent Saturday in a cement-walled operating room in this city near Nigeria's northern border. More than five hours later, orderlies carried the last of four girls to the recovery ward. In the near-90 degree heat, Dr. Waaldijk's light blue surgical garb had turned dark with sweat." |MORE
  • "In a corrugated iron shack in the outskirts of the village, they find a young woman. Hands and feet bound together, hips contracted, muscles wasted." Read further, a review of two movies revealing the horrors of obstetric fistula in September 2006 issue of Lancet.
  • "Zola, a six-year-old girl, was lying in her mother's arms as they sat in their yard at dusk. Suddenly, a group of five militiamen came in shooting and tore Zola away. Her mother begged the men to take her in exchange for her daughter, but they refused; they had come for the little girl.
    The child was found the next day in her school, her tiny legs tied to two benches, bathed in blood. As a result of the rape, Zola had suffered a devastating traumatic fistula injury. While the doctors in Goma said that Zola would survive, her mother lamented that she could never marry."

In The Hidden Consequence of War we are taken into "shadows of the world’s most violent conflicts" to learn about traumatic fistula and discover how courageous medical practitioners are helping the afflicted.
  • "Because of the population fistulas affect, the issue attracts little attention and even fewer resources," states Toronto's Globe and Mall in its May 23 article on the problem of obstetric fistula. Read further here.
  • According to the Washington Times March 5 article about obstetric fistula in Ethiopia, "The Hamlin Trust, an organization that runs three hospitals in Ethiopia, estimates that about 150,000 women in the country have the condition." Read further about the impact of obstetric fistula on this impoverished country and the Hamlin Trust's work to alleviate the suffering.
  • " Traveling doctors go to Africa and Asia to repair fistulas, avoidable childbirth injuries, little known in the U.S., that can destroy a mother's reasons for living..." Read further in Baltimore Sun examination of obstetric fistula in Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia.
  • EngenderHealth has launched an ambitious program to reduce the incidence of obstetric fistula in Guinea. Read more about this tragic outgrowth of inadequate prenatal care and EngenderHealth's strategy for enabling developing nations to deal with it.
  • The first report ever to map obstetric fistula in sub-Saharan Africa revealed that the condition is appallingly widespread. Read further about this ground-breaking documentation produced as a joint project by EngenderHealth and UNFPA.
  • What is Obstetric Fistula? How does it occur? -->>Read further: FAQ from UNFPA.
  • A powerful video clip portraying the trauma inflicted by obstetric fistula.

  • EngenderHealth demonstrates that repairing a devastating childbirth injury can return women to their lives and their communities. -->>Read further.
  • "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.