Obstetric fistula

UNFPA in Bangladesh

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), is the United Nations' sexual and reproductive health agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled. UNFPA has been working in partnership with the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh since 1974, providing technical and advisory services and support. Our main partners are various Government Ministries, the Parliament, United Nations Agencies, academic institutions, and civil society organizations.

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For more than 10 years, until last year, Khadra, 32, suffered a debilitating and devastating condition; obstetric fistula. Khadra lived with fistula complications and was isolated from her own community for over a decade as she was unable to access and afford treatment.

Now, one year after accessing fistula repair services, Khadra is a proud owner of a thriving shop selling different kinds of merchandise. She is determined to help other women and girls suffering the debilitating condition to access treatment.

On the International Day to End Obstetric Fistula, 23 May 2017, the Puntland Ministry of Health and UNFPA convened a high profile ceremony to commemorate the occasion. The purpose of the event was to renew the momentum gathered since 2013 in previous campaigns to end obstetric fistula and to increase public awareness about the condition.

“I was told that my repair surgery will be done on Wednesday. The night before I couldn’t sleep. I was happy, nervous, anxious and scared. I couldn’t believe this day was finally coming. I couldn’t believe I was going to be fine and that the days of feeling embarrassed at my clothes being wet will soon be behind me. I will not smell bad again.

May 23 each year marks the International Day to End Obstetric Fistula: http://www.un.org/en/events/endfistuladay/

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.

Over the past year, I followed the total transformation of two women’s lives. Alice, from Malawi, was successfully treated for obstetric fistula at the age of 83, after living with this terrible and treatable condition for 66 years. Jumwa, from Kenya, was treated at the age of 77, after living with fistula for 50 years. I have no words to describe the sense of hope, healing, and restored dignity that this treatment provided, first and foremost to these two women, but also to their loved ones.

While these are stories of hope, they are also stories of a tragedy – the tragedy being that both women ever suffered from fistula in the first place. They should never have endured the decades of discomfort and shame that could have been so easily prevented.

The time has come to put an end to this suffering wherever it occurs.

Obstetric fistula is one of the most serious and tragic injuries that can occur during childbirth. The condition typically leaves women incontinent, as well as subject to infections or other health conditions. Women with fistula are often shunned by their communities.

Yet the condition is almost entirely preventable. Its persistence is a sign of global inequality and an indication that health systems are failing to protect the health and human rights of the poorest and most vulnerable women and girls.

18 April 2017 – Afghan Ministries of Information and Culture (MoIC) and Women’s Affairs (MoWA) with the support from the Embassy of Canada and UNFPA (the United Nations Population Fund) launched the “National Action Plan to Eliminate Early and Child Marriage” at the Government Media and Information Center today.

UNFPA Afghanistan Newsletter - Issue II

No. of pages : 4
Publisher : UNFPA
Publication date : 09/04/2017
Author : UNFPA

“I examined the mother, only to find out that she had carried her dead fetus for weeks”, said Alia Ayar, a UNFPA midwife providing obstetric emergency care in times of humanitarian crises across Afghanistan. “She suffered severe pains and fever and couldn’t do the chores around the house, until the family (finally) decided to allow her to see a health service provider.” Read more about this and other UNFPA stories in our newsletter.

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