Marking the International Day on 23 May to end the almost entirely preventable condition, the head of the UN’s sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, said that sufferers continue to “face devastating social stigma”.
“Shame, isolation and segregation are among the indignities faced by the hundreds of thousands of women and girls worldwide who suffer from obstetric fistula”, said Dr. Natalia Kanem, UNFPA’s Executive Director, in a statement issued on Thursday.
Obstetric fistula is one of the most serious injuries that can occur during childbirth, leaving a hole between the birth canal and the bladder or rectum, caused by prolonged, obstructed labour, without treatment.
It’s estimated that some 50,000 to 100,000 new cases develop worldwide every year, but most occur among women living in poverty in cultures where a woman’s status and self-esteem may depend almost entirely on marriage and her ability to bear children.
“The girls and women afflicted by the condition, which is preventable and largely treatable, are often plagued by chronic incontinence” Dr. Kanem underlined. Sufferers often enduring depression, social isolation and deepening poverty, while many women live with the condition for years, because they cannot afford treatment.
The average cost - including surgery, post-operative care and rehabilitation support - is around $300 per patient. Persistence of fistula “is a sign that health systems are failing to meet women’s essential needs”, Dr. Kanem added.
Obstetric fistula:
An obstetric fistula is a hole between the vagina and rectum or bladder that is caused by prolonged obstructed labor, leaving a woman incontinent of urine or feces or both.
Obstructed labor means, labor that goes unattended, the labor can last up to six or seven days.