INTERNATIONAL DAY TO END OBSTETRIC FISTULA

About:

• Obstetric fistula is an injury 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.
  
  
• The condition typically leaves women incontinent, and as a result they are often shunned by their communities. Sufferers often endure depression, social isolation and deepening poverty.
  
  
• An estimated 2 million women in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, the Arab region, and Latin America and the Caribbean are living with this injury, and some 50,000 to 100,000 new cases develop each year.
  
  
• Obstetric fistula is preventable; it can largely be avoided by:
  • delaying the age of first pregnancy;
    
    
  • the cessation of harmful traditional practices; and
    
    
  • timely access to obstetric care.