Surgeons Launch Drive to Cure Incontinence Caused by Difficult Pregnancies

"Fistula Fortnight", a campaign to end the painful and embarrassing childbirth injury that leaves women incontinent, has kicked off in northern Nigeria this week.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said on Wednesday that 94 women had undergone surgery in the first two days of the drive.

"There's no nice way to talk about it. They (the mothers) leak urine or faeces, or both," and that results in their being ostracized by their families and the rest of society," said spokeswoman Kristen Hetle. "Fistula is unpleasant to talk about, but easy to cure."

Although fistula was wiped out 100 years ago in Europe and the United States, the World Health Organisation estimates that more than two million people are living with the condition in developing countries, with up to 100,000 new cases being added each year.

"These figures are based on the number of women seeking treatment and are likely to be gross underestimates," UNFPA says.

Fistula is a condition often associated with child brides, whose birth canal is not yet fully developed to cope with the pregnancies that usually follow soon after marriage.

The end result is several days of obstructed labour. The baby dies in about 95 percent of cases, and the lack of blood flow to the mother's pelvic tissues causes holes in her internal organs, allowing urine and faeces to seep out.

Nigeria has one of the highest rates of fistula in the world, with an estimated 800,000 women living with the condition and 20,000 developing it each year, according to UNFPA figures.

The condition can be cured by reconstructive surgery that is relatively straightforward. But in the operation costs about US$300 on average and that is well beyond the means of most women who suffer from fistula.

Fistula is most common in the mainly Muslim north of the country, where girls as young as 12 years are married off. They often become pregnant before their body has fully developed and this frequently leads to complications at childbirth. Fistula is less common in the south, where women tend to marry at a much later age.

In Jos in Plateau state, fistula victims from the Hausa ethnic group have composed a song to deal with the problems they suffer, entitled 'Urine, the oppressor of the world', according to Leonard Wall, a professor at the Washington University in St Louis.

•	Surgeons Launch Drive to Cure Incontinence Caused by Difficult Pregnancies Reuters via AllAfrica.com, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2005

	Story also ran in 2 others:  Reuters AlertNet UK and UN Regional Information Africa