Global perspective Human stories

Countries targeted by UN-backed campaign to end obstetric fistula leap to 45

Countries targeted by UN-backed campaign to end obstetric fistula leap to 45

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With at least 2 million women in Africa, Asia and the Arab region living with obstetric fistula and 50,000 to 100,000 new cases developing each year, the United Nations-backed campaign to prevent and treat the debilitating birth injury announced today a four-fold increase in the number of countries it now serves.

The Campaign to End Fistula, led by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), now works in 45 countries, compared with 12 when it was launched five years ago in combating the condition, a hole in the birth canal caused by prolonged labour without prompt medical intervention leading to incontinence and social ostracism.

“The consequences of fistula are life shattering,” UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid said on releasing the campaign’s annual report on the same day that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is presenting the first-ever Secretariat report on the condition to the general Assembly.

“The baby often dies and the woman is left with chronic incontinence, greatly diminishing her prospects for work and family life,” she added of the condition, which occurs disproportionately among poor girls and women lacking medical services and can be cured by simple surgery, with an average cost of $300 and a success rate as high as 90 per cent for experienced surgeons.

Obstetric fistula is uncommon in countries where births are attended by skilled medical workers and emergency care is available and where women can exercise their right to determine the number of their children.

Launched by UNFPA and its partners in 2003, the campaign aims to eliminate fistula by 2015 by preventing and restoring the health and dignity of women living with its consequences. In the past five years the campaign has raised more than $25 million in contribution and educated tens of thousands of individuals, community leaders and policymakers about the condition.