WUNRN
UN News Centre - Full Article: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsId=50947#.VWBKLHkw_mI
International Day to End Obstetric Fistula – May 23
23 May 2015 – Obstetric fistula is a devastating yet
completely preventable and, in many cases, treatable injury of childbirth,
affecting at least two million women and girls worldwide and leaving them isolated
from communities, the United Nations spotlighted ahead of the International Day
to End Obstetric Fistula.
“The fact that fistula persists primarily among the
poorest and most marginalized women and girls in the world is an egregious
outcome of social, economic and gender inequalities, the denial of human rights
and inadequate access to quality reproductive health services, including
maternal and newborn care,” Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon said in his message
on the Day, marked annually on 23 May.
“We have a moral obligation, as a global community, to
complete the unfinished agenda of eradicating fistula,” he added.
Obstetric fistula is one of the most serious and tragic
injuries that can occur during childbirth. It is a hole between the birth canal
and the bladder or rectum caused by prolonged, obstructed labour without
treatment. Sufferers often endure depression, social isolation and deepening
poverty. Many women live with the condition for years – or even decades –
because they cannot afford to obtain treatment. And up to 100,000 new obstetric
fistula cases occur every year……
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http://www.unfpa.org/news/obstetric-fistula-road-recovery-%E2%80%93-and-respect
OBSTETRIC FISTULA: THE ROAD TO RECOVERY & RESPECT
Dr.
Nazneen Begum and Dr. Ruksana Khanum check on patients at the National
Management Centre for Obstetric Fistula. For many women suffering from
obstetric fistula, treatment is not enough. Skills training and counselling are
essential to overcoming the stigma and isolation related to the condition. © Nicolas
Axelrod/Ruom for UNFPA
UNFPA – 23 May 2015 - DHAKA,
Bangladesh – For women suffering from obstetric fistula, a traumatic and
debilitating childbirth injury, the effects are much more than physical. The
condition often leaves them stigmatized by their communities, abandoned by
their families and unable to work. And treatment alone does not end this
ordeal. After years of isolation, they have to learn to rebuild their lives.
A
rehabilitation centre in Bangladesh is helping fistula survivors do just that.
Nasima
Nizamuddin, who struggled after being rejected by her husband, says the fistula
centre helped her heal, and it is giving her the skills to support herself.
Now, she says, “I don’t feel alone anymore.”
A human
rights tragedy
Obstetric
fistula is a hole in the birth canal caused by prolonged, obstructed labour. It
can cause frequent pain and infections, and it leaves women with chronic
incontinence. Survivors often find themselves ostracized and excluded from
jobs.
The
condition is almost entirely preventable, and its persistence is a human rights
tragedy.
Emergency obstetric
care has essentially eliminated obstetric fistula in affluent countries. Today,
it affects the most marginalized and impoverished women – an estimated 2 million around the world.
Empowering
survivors
Efforts
to treat the condition are gaining ground in Bangladesh. But rehabilitation
efforts are equally important, said Ferdousi Islam, a professor at Dhaka
Medical College. “Treatment without rehabilitation is only partially effective.
Rehab is where they learn how to cope with their condition and situation, and
where they develop a support network that empowers them,” she said.
Survivors
of fistula face a variety of hurdles in Bangladesh. Many are left by their
husbands, but “in Bangladesh, if a girl is of marriageable age and doesn't have
a family of her own, she is stigmatized,” Dr. Islam noted. “With no husband,
she will have to return to her parents’ home where she will be seen as a burden
on her family.”
The
Fistula Patients Training and Rehabilitation Centre in Dhaka gives women who
have received successful fistula treatment the skills to return to their
communities and begin supporting themselves. “If she goes home with financial
solvency,” Dr. Islam said, “she is a benefit, not a burden.”
Women
stay at the centre for one to two months, learning skills such as consumer
baking or tailoring. “We work with the patients to assess what skills would be
most suitable for them,” said project coordinator Khandaker Khalid. “Tailoring
might have a high earning potential, but if there are already many tailors [in
their home district], learning how to produce and sell milk might be better.”
The
survivors also receive psychosocial support. Counsellor Farhad Kanijfatema ,
who has been at the centre since its inception in 2006, explains that these
services are critical for women who have been considered outcasts in their
communities.
“When
they come here, they are very nervous,” Ms. Kanijfatema says. “We give them
respect, which they don’t get at home. We let them know that they are
important, which they don’t feel at home, partly because of Bangladesh’s
male-dominated culture, and which is made worse by the fistula.”
“I can
improve my life”
Ms.
Nizamuddin developed fistula during the birth of her son. Her husband left them
soon after.
Nasima Nizamuddin 20, at the Fistula Patients Training & Rehabilitation
Centre. She says the skills she is learning will help her
Support her family. Photo: Nicolas Axelrod/Ruom for UNFPA
“I was
very scared when I arrived here, but the people here have helped me so much,” she
said.
She
elected to learn advanced agriculture techniques, such as animal rearing and
organic farming. “I will be able to utilize the land I have and earn a lot of
money, which I can use to help my family,” Ms. Nizamuddin said.
The
centre, which is supervised by the Government of Bangladesh, is operated by the
Bangladesh Women’s Health Coalition, with support from UNFPA. It is the only
one of its kind in the country.
According
to the centre’s communications officer, Mohammed Islam, many more such
facilities are needed. “There are nine hospitals in Bangladesh that offer
fistula treatment, but there is only this one rehab centre in Dhaka. We
normally operate at close to maximum capacity, so in the future every hospital
needs to have its own centre to meet the demand,” he said.
For
women like Ms. Nizamuddin, the importance of the programme speaks for itself. “I
feel that I can improve my life when I leave here because of the skills I have
learned,” she said.