Ministry committed to supporting women with obstetric fistula
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), between 50,000 and 100,000 women worldwide are affected each year by obstetric fistula, a hole in the birth canal.
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The development of obstetric fistula is directly linked to one of the major causes of maternal mortality: Obstructed labour.
Prolonged, obstructed labour that goes unattended to causes obstetric fistula, a hole between the vagina and rectum or bladder, leaving a woman unable to prevent urine or feaces or both, and this is the most devastating and serious impact of all childbirth injuries.
Statistics from the WHO also show that more than 75 per cent of women with obstetric fistula have endured labour that lasted three days or more and women who experience obstetric fistula suffer constant incontinence, shame, social segregation and health problems.
Fistula Centre in Tamale
During a visit to the Fistula Centre at the Tamale Central Hospital last Friday, the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Ms Otiko Afisa Djaba indicated the ministry’s commitment to continue to partner organisations such as the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to repair obstetric fistulas for women, especially those in the northern regions.
The minister, who on behalf of the UNFPA donated fistula kits to the centre to enhance its operations, gave an assurance that the ministry was committed to doing even more to improve maternal and child health, especially among the vulnerable in the country.
Ms Djaba emphasised that the surgery for fistula repairs was free and advised fistula patients not to pay any money before being attended to.
The minister, who was accompanied on the visit by some officials of the UNFPA, including Ms Erika Goldson, the UNFPA Representative in Ghana, also interacted with some of the patients at the centre who had undergone corrective surgery and were recuperating.
Ms Djaba stated that the government, with the support of the UNFPA and other organisations, was already paying for the services and urged women who had such conditions to seek medical care at the centre.
She said some people had opened Facebook accounts in her name and they were using it to extort money ranging between GH¢300 and GH¢400 from fistula patients with the excuse of assisting them to undergo surgery and stated that those Facebook accounts demanding money for fistula repairs were fraudulent.
Ms Erika Goldson said the UNFPA would continue to support surgeries for women to repair fistula in the country and called for intensive education on the issue.
