The World Health Organization has called fistula "the single most dramatic aftermath of neglected childbirth", estimating that more than 2 million women live with fistula worldwide. But, it fears even this number may be a gross underestimate.
Short of death, the most devastating effect of neglected childbirth is obstetric fistula, a hole that forms between the vagina and the bladder or rectum during prolonged, obstructed labor. This horrific injury leaves victims incontinent. Some develop nerve damage in the feet and legs.
The Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia has treated more than 32,000 women with obstetric Fistula. Learn more about obstetric fistula or the work of the Fistula Hospital.
If the misery of uncontrolled leaking of urine (and sometimes feces) isn't enough, these women and girls are ostracized and disdained by their families and communities. Without being cured, women with fistula commonly spend the remaining years of their lives in shame and isolation, literally waiting to die.
Obstetric fistula is almost entirely preventable. Women in the affected regions worldwide must gain access to doctors and medical facilities that can intervene when complications occur. Those who do not have access during childbirth must have ways to seek treatment, which is usually a surgical procedure.
Eradicated in developed countries at the end of the 19th century when cesarean section became widely available, obstetric fistula still plagues women throughout the developing world, specifically in parts of Africa, India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nepal. It is estimated that there are 100,000 new cases each year, but the international capacity to treat obstetric fistula is limited to only 6,500 per year.