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Our partner organisation ‘Mobile Hilfe Madagaskar’ (www.mobile-hilfe-madagaskar.de) helps, amongst other things, women affected by obstetric fistula and has asked Tulisa for support.
What is this about?
It often affects women who have experienced complications during childbirth. The head of the unborn child does not pass through the birth canal but becomes stuck; the child is trapped, and this can drag on for several days. As a result, the blood supply to the surrounding maternal tissue is severely restricted or completely cut off, leading to tissue necrosis. A hole forms. This can be between the vagina and the rectum, the ureter or the bladder, and can lead to urinary or faecal incontinence.
The baby usually does not survive such a birth, and almost one in three affected women loses her life in the process.
Risk factors include labour arrest, inadequate access to medical care, malnutrition, teenage pregnancy and severe rape, which is particularly common in war zones.
Affected women not only suffer from the trauma itself, but are often rejected and ostracised by their husbands and the wider community due to the hygiene problems caused by incontinence.
Treatment is usually surgical. An estimated 2 million women in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, the Arab world and Latin America are affected, with around 75,000 new cases each year. The condition is rare in industrialised nations, but all the more common in developing countries.
Obstetric obstruction and obstetric fistula are responsible for 8 per cent of maternal mortality worldwide. People in impoverished countries not only have low incomes, but also lack the adequate infrastructure, trained specialists and resources that are available in developed countries.
That is why your help is needed here. With 55 euros – roughly the cost of surgical treatment – you can give an affected woman a new lease of life! You can ensure that she continues to live within her community and is there for her children.