WOMEN & FAMILY: Hope for Fistula Survivors November 27, 2013 at 2:30pm from Liberia Observer online By Gloria T. Tamba So many women and girls over the years and up to present are still suffering from this de-humanizing condition called Fistula. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in collaboration with the Government of Liberia is doing all to fix condition on women and girls who come down with fistula. Dr. John Mulbah, the lead fistula surgeon on the Liberia Fistula Program (LFP), simply defined fistula as a miscommunication between two organs in the female body thereby resulting to the sufferer involuntarily passing urine and feces. According to Dr. Mulbah, who spoke last Saturday, November 23, at the graduation of 16 survivors of the Fistula Rehabilitation Center at Phebe Hospital in Gbarnga, Bong County, there is still hope for any woman coming down with this condition that very de-humanizing. He further stated that women and girls with fistula, commonly called “pupu and pepe sickness,” are most times abandoned by their relatives, love ones and their communities. Dr. Mulbah said since the LFP began in 2007, with the support of UNFPA, more than 1000 women and girls, have been surgically repaired and over 250 girls and women have gone through the rehabilitation center, where they (survivors) have been trained in many skills, including tailoring, cosmetology, soap making and pastry. Ms. Ratidzai Ndhlovu, Resident Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Liberia office also spoke at the graduation ceremony of the fistula survivors. Ms. Ndhlovu, said the provision of family planning services for women and girls offers the answer to reducing maternal and newborn deaths including the prevention of obstetric fistula, which is the common fistula prevalent in Liberia. She stated that access to family planning is an essential human right that delivers immeasurable rewards to women, families and the communities. The UNFPA Resident Representative disclosed that fistula has all but disappeared in countries where women experiencing complicated deliveries have access to timely emergency obstetric care. “The most effective way to prevent fistula is to ensure access to quality maternal health care services, including family planning, skilled birth attendance and emergency obstetric care. Skilled attendance at birth, including swift surgical intervention if obstructed labour occurs, can prevent a fistula,” she added. She noted that “Extended obstructed labour puts a woman at risk for fistula and other serious injuries, including death.” Ms. Ndhlovu warned that unless women with delivery complication receive prompt medical treatment - usually a Caesarean section - the lack of blood flow can cause soft tissues to die, leaving a fistula, or hole, in her bladder or bowel. Using the occasion to reaffirm UNFPA’s commitment to the provision of family planning services as a strategy to end fistula and reduce maternal mortality in Liberia, she maintained that “Because women with fistula endure enormous psychological and social trauma; empowering them to reclaim their place in society is a major goal of the UNFPA End Fistula Campaign.” She lauded the fistula survivors for their resilience and urged them to share the information on how to prevent fistula or get treatment. “To you my sisters and daughters; please do not keep this new found joy to yourself. While we celebrate your lives today, let us not forget that there are many more of our sisters and daughters who have fistula out there and they need information and the assurance that they too can be successful, respected members of their families and communities. You are ambassadors and role models for those who have not gotten the courage and opportunities to seek help. You are great heroines of Liberia in the fight against fistula. You have all the reasons to be happy and proud;” Ms. Ndhlovu pointed out. One of the survivors spoke of her ordeal to the Daily Observer. “Fistula started on me with running stomach; later on I was passing stood and urine through my virginal and anus. My parents and others who saw my condition attributed it to witch craft. I was abandoned by my father, friends and neighbors. I had to drop from school,” 17-year-old Miatta Baryogar said. Miatta disclosed that she went three years with this condition until she was brought to Phebe Hospital, where Dr. Mulbah surgically repaired her condition and thereafter, she entered the rehabilitation center. She earlier stated that after visiting her at the hospital on two occasions, her father told her that he would never come back to see her again because she was not going to get well. “He told me that the hospital and the training center can take me when I am well and not go back home again to them,” she stated sadly. Miatta further told the Observer Women Desk that she does not have the intention going to find her parents but wants to stay with the trainers at the rehabilitation center, where she had learned cosmetology. An elderly woman, in her 40s, was also one of the survivors, who graduated from the 6-month training at the center. Massa Joe: “I had fistula for the past 16 years. My sister one day heard about Dr. Mulbah on the radio so she encouraged me to come to Phebe Hospital. I came and Dr. Mulbah did my operation and now I am well”.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 18:48:45 +0000
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