WUNRN
OBSTETRIC FISTULA - AFGHANISTAN TESTIMONIAL - DEVASTATING BIRTH INJURY TO HOPE IN REPAIR
Sharifa (left) at the
22
May 2014 - By Maria Blanco Lora
Today, Sharifa looks fragile in the way she
moves, sits and talks. She is anything but.
“I delivered my first baby girl 11 months
after my wedding, and five years later I had my second daughter,” says Sharifa.
“I delivered four more children, but all of them were dead. I still don’t know
why. I developed an obstetric fistula delivering the last one.”
She does not remember how long she was in
labour because she lost consciousness. What she remembers is that after giving
birth to her sixth stillborn child, a new nightmare began and lasted 20 years.
“I couldn’t go anywhere,” she says. “There
were no Pampers [diapers] before, so I had to use clothes, and I couldn’t visit
any relatives or work.”
Segregated from family and society
The isolation that Sharifa suffered is just
one of the consequences of living with an obstetric fistula, a hole between the
vagina and bladder or rectum, usually caused by prolonged labour without
treatment. Fistula leaves women leaking urine or faeces, or both, and typically
results in social isolation and depression.
Sharifa’s situation is typical of the majority
of women suffering from obstetric fistula in
Sharifa looked for treatment, and received two
surgeries, but these proved unsuccessful. Her husband and in-laws decided that
he should take a second wife.
“My husband married a second time because I
had this problem. No one wanted to eat anything from my hands, so I started to
look for a new wife for him,” says Sharifa. “I was the one who introduced her
to him.”
After her husband married his second wife,
Sharifa was left alone to resolve her situation. Eventually, she learned about
“When I heard about the programme at
“It’s been four years now since I got my life
back,” she says. “Now I can visit my relatives and work.”
Sharifa was treated at the hospital’s
obstetric fistula programme, which is funded by UNFPA. She stayed there for 21
days and was one of the first patients treated at the Fistula Ward, where about
100 women now receive surgery every year.
“In 2007, the obstetric fistula programme
moved from a treatment-based care approach to one that promotes the prevention
of obstetric fistula, its treatment and the reintegration of patients,”
explains Mohammad Tahir Ghaznavi, the UNFPA officer in charge of the programme
for
“Through our programme, midwives and
obstetricians are trained to prevent, diagnose and refer obstetric fistula
patients, and the obstetrician and gynecologist surgeons at
Some of the medical staff at the hospital have
also witnessed their share of inoperable cases, or situations in which women
with children were abandoned by their families.
Sharifa was lucky enough to have the support
of her neighbours, her sister and her adopted son.
“Even when she was sick, she was taking care
of us,” says her son, Sayed Ahmad, who accompanied her to the hospital. “She is
fine now, and we are very happy for her.”