A SAFE MOTHERHOOD ISSUE: OBSTETRIC FISTULA

One of the items on the United Nations Department of Public Information's 10 Stories the world should hear more about is the problem of obstetric fistula among women in the developing world.

Poverty, malnutrition, poor health services, early marriage and gender discrimination are interlinked root causes of obstetric fistula. Poverty is the main social risk factor because it is associated with early marriage and malnutrition and because poverty reduces a woman's chances of getting timely obstetric care. Because of their low status in many communities, women often lack the power to choose when to start bearing children or where to give birth. Childbearing before the pelvis is fully developed, as well as malnutrition, small stature and general poor health, are contributing physiological factors to obstructed labour. Older women who have delivered many children are at risk as well.

That's from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).  They also mentioned this:

Although FGC [female genital cutting] can increase the risk of haemorrhage and infection during childbirth, it is not clear whether it is typically a causal factor in the formation of fistulas. However, two fairly radical forms of FGC, the Gishiri cut, which is practiced in northern Nigeria, and infibulation, the stitching up of the vagina, can contribute directly to fistulas.

UNFPA has these suggestions for what people can do to help.

Comments

[Christina]

I would love to support this effort. Is there any way of doing it without feeding money into the International Planned Parenthood Federation? Every dollar I give them to treat an obstetric fistula patient just frees up a dollar for them to drag some Tibetan woman in for an unwanted abortion. There's got to be somebody trustworthy doing work like this.

I'm gonna link to this on my Not Just the Unborn blog to see what other resources are out there.

[Christina]

I mean the UNFPA. They work so hand-in-glove with PPFA that sometimes it's hard to tell them apart!

[hannah]

Interesting about fistulas in other parts of the world. I had one in 1974 while under the care of my towns 3 "best" OB/GYN's here in California. Misdiagnosed for 3 months. I have a small pelvis and had a 9 pound baby. THIS IS NOT JUST IN 3rd WORLD COUNTRIES!!! Thanks for spreading the word--but I can find nothing on rate of women in US who develup fistulas as they were "eradicated" in 1895 or something.