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Countries around the World will on Friday, May 23rd carry out a campaign to highlight the gravity and the need to end obstetric fistula. Obstetric fistula, that is preventable, is a serious and tragic childbirth injury. Obstetric fistula is a hole between the birth canal and bladder or rectum or both, caused by prolonged, obstructed labour without access to timely, quality medical treatment.

It often leads to chronic health problems, depression, social isolation, and deepening poverty. Ninety per cent of fistula cases result in stillbirths. While pregnancy is safer than ever on average, health systems and communities are still falling short on the promise of safe childbirth, with tens of thousands of women and girls sustaining injuries such as obstetric fistula around the world each year.



The theme of the International Day to End Obstetric Fistula is: “Breaking the Cycle: Preventing Fistula Worldwide.” According to experts, the prevalence of fistula across lower- and middle-income countries in the Arab States region, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and sub-Saharan Africa is a symptom of deep-rooted global inequalities. The injury is almost absent from high-income countries.

According to the UNFPA Uganda country office, obstetric fistula is a childbirth injury that has been extremely neglected, despite the devastating impact it has on the lives of affected women and girls. During the prolonged labour, the sustained pressure of the baby’s head on the mother’s pel.

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