More Care Reported Worldwide for Women Suffering with “The Backyard Disease,” but Problem Outpaces Efforts to Address Santa Barbara, Calif. (April, 15, 2013)— Global data from 42 countries released this week on the Global Fistula Map reflects a grim future for most of the estimated two million women living with obstetric fistula worldwide and the estimated 50,000 to 100,000 who
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As the New Year begins, Direct Relief is excited to announce a new program that aims to significantly increase the availability of obstetric fistula treatment and to improve prevention efforts to reduce the occurrence of this devastating childbirth injury in Pakistan. Obstetric fistula is a hole in the birth canal caused by prolonged and obstructed labor without prompt medical intervention. Fistula affects
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Earlier this month, Direct Relief provided a $50,000 grant to support essential obstetric fistula repair surgeries for women who are living with this devastating and debilitating condition in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu. Direct Relief again partnered with the Women and Health Alliance International (WAHA), an international nonprofit organization committed to improving maternal and neonatal health in disadvantaged communities throughout Africa, to
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More than 300 delegates gathered in Dhaka, Bangladesh last week at the International Society of Obstetric Fistula Surgeons (ISOFS) Congress 2012. The meeting theme this year: Fistula: An Injustice to Women- Let’s Work to Bring Justice, calls upon all of us to work together to address this devastating childbirth injury, suffered by an estimated 2 million women in developing countries.
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In the midst of Hurricane Sandy activity last week, it was nice to see the Global Fistula Map—published by Direct Relief, the Fistula Foundation, and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)—cited in the U.N. Secretary-General Report, “Supporting Efforts to End Obstetric Fistula,” presented by UNFPA Deputy Executive Director, Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen, at the United Nations. As the report notes, obstetric fistula
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Many women with obstetric fistula suffer for years or decades before they are able to access surgical treatment. Fortunately for Beatrice, who was 16 when she developed fistula, it was less than a month before she received treatment at the Nyanza Provincial General Hospital in Kisumu, Kenya – where Direct Relief has worked since 2009, with the support of The
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