LET’S TALK ABOUT OBSTETRIC FISTULA TODAY!!

Obstetric Fistula can be eradicated!! It can phase away.

Not only does Child Marriage lead to sexual abuse, physical violence, psychological trauma, depression and/or poor mental health but child marriage is also one of the most direct causes of Obstetric Fistula.

Birth brings joy to most women and their families, but this is not the same for every woman. Some are left with complications that affect their quality of life permanently.
One of such complications is what is termed as an obstetric fistula.

An Obstetric Fistula is a hole between a woman’s vagina and one or more of her internal organs. This hole develops over many days of obstructed labour when the pressure of the baby’s head against the mother’s pelvis cuts off blood supply to delicate tissues in the region. The dead tissue falls away and the woman is left with a hole between her vagina and her bladder (vesicovaginal fistula) and sometimes between her vagina and rectum (rectovaginal fistula).
This hole results in permanent incontinence of urine and/or faeces which means that urine and faeces cannot be controlled. They are left in isolation and their partners sometimes abandon them.
And where-in low self-esteem becomes a part of it all. Obstetric fistula patients may never go to public events due to the smell around them and it gives way to infections and other health challenges. Tragically, 93% of obstetric fistula survivors give birth to a stillborn baby, often after an agonising obstructed birth lasting day. The mother may never recover mentally nor physically from this trauma and suffers the humiliation.
They deal with;

·       Trauma.

·       Interruption of life plans.

·       Flashbacks of labour process.

·       Anxiety.

·       Social stigma.

·       Low self-esteem.

Even if Obstetric Fistula is not common in Malawi, it is of the kind that occurs in many developing countries and today, approximately half a million women and girls across the globe are affected by obstetric fistula. Every woman treated obstetric fistula, 50 more go without treatment due to;

·       Stigma and lack of awareness.

·       Poverty.

·       Inadequate healthcare systems.

Those suffering fistulas are completely voiceless.
These women and girls endure the distressing ordeal of incontinence, leading to persistent health issues, emotional distress, social isolation, humiliated, deepening poverty all-too-often-shunned by their communities.

The first (probably last) time I knew of obstetric fistula it wasn’t a good sight. I felt bad and sorry for the 15-year-old girl I met at the hospital. It was horrible, I wept. I couldn’t imagine the trauma she might have been experiencing, the anxiety and social stigma. She narrated it all herself how she was isolated and discriminated in her community. A total interruption of life, realistically everything of her and within her had stopped and unfortunately the baby was a still-birth. A whole bunch of agony.

While Obstetric fistula is a preventable medical condition, approaching it from a human rights perspective enables us to unlock many more resources to help vulnerable girls and women by;

·       Focusing on the empowerment of women.

·       Providing information and education.

·       Awareness raising about the dignity of women.

·       Advocacy for a human rights perspective.

Strive every day to end the suffering of women injured in childbirth and ensure that no woman is left behind.

With greater awareness and investing in necessary measure, first, child marriage and then obstetric fistula can be eliminated, enabling women and girls free from silent suffering.
No woman and girl-child need to suffer shame and rejection from obstetric fistula!!