UN agency draws attention to debilitating pregnancy condition

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) today launched the first-ever report on women in sub-Saharan Africa living with obstetric fistula, a debilitating pregnancy-related condition caused by prolonged obstructed labour.

UNFPA said fistula usually occurs when a woman is in labour for days on end without medical help and cannot get a Caesarean section. The prolonged pressure of the baby's head against the mother's pelvis cuts off the blood supply to the soft tissues surrounding her bladder, rectum and vagina. The injured tissue soon rots away, leaving a hole, or fistula.

"We hope this report will sound a global alarm about fistula," said Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, UNFPA Executive Director. "Most women living with fistula today suffer in silence, unaware that a simple cure is available. These women deserve our immediate attention. That is why UNFPA has launched a global campaign to prevent and treat fistula."

Obstetric fistula leaves women constantly leaking urine or faeces. The new report, "Obstetric Fistula Needs Assessment: Findings from Nine African Countries," shows that many sufferers are abandoned by their husbands, forced out of their homes, ostracized by family and friends and even disdained by health workers, who consider them "unclean."

Fistula is both preventable and treatable. It is virtually unknown in places where early pregnancy is discouraged, young women are educated, family planning is accessible and skilled medical care is provided at childbirth, UNFPA said.

The report assesses the capacity of 35 hospitals in nine countries - Benin, Chad, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda and Zambia - to treat patients. It outlines their needs for equipment, skilled medical staff and surgical supplies. In many countries, doctors are unable to meet the demand for care.

The new report indicates that current figures on the number of women living with fistula - estimated at 2 million - are too low, since they are based on patients who seek treatment in medical facilities. In Nigeria alone, there could be as many as 1 million women living with fistula, the report says.