How many of you reading this article have heard of obstetric fistula? Not too much, I think. Until a few years ago, I had never heard of it either. I got it for the first time from the experience of singer / songwriter Natalie Imbruglia, who died on another television news program, and as a spokeswoman in the responsibility based on the fistula.
Fistula is an illness affecting one of the poor young women in Africa, the Arab world and the Indian subcontinent. It is caused by a hole in the birth canal, which is caused by labor without negative intervention. Caesarean surgery is caused. Many for treating the trauma of giving birth to an untreated stillborn baby, fistula can develop ulcers, kidney problems, and nerve problems in the legs in women.
Two million women are affected and up to 100,000 new functions are added every year. They have to have less, have who they want, have, and the social pressure to give birth to a child can be very strong. It belongs to women who give birth to anything other than life, who are not networked, very young and / or give birth quickly.
The condition is based on escaping urine and fecal matter. The misery is endless, the smell can be the correction and the control. Husbands leave, family and neighbors banish their wives and life in intense isolation and that is not one of them. Early marriage and poverty have deprived these women of many opportunities in life. Access to education is that they can hold back or nothing at all. Dreams.
Until the decisive war, the state of political orientations in general. The demand to sue the fistula is taking place. I have heard from Natalie Imbruglia and her that I had heard of the campaign to promote fistula formation.
How did you find out about fistula and the fistula education campaign?
I spoke to Richard Branson about my desire to belong to another organization and he told me that I would be heard by Fistel and he was right. I became an ambassador for Virgin Unite and she contacted UNFPA, the agency and the fistula rights management campaign. I have been at war and have never heard of fistulas, and I have seen less of the war on a plane to Nigeria and Ethiopia for more than weeks.
War War Are you particularly motivated to campaign against fistulas?
This question raised my mind. It was so devastating to me that all of these women suffered from an avoidable and treatable disease. I just didn’t care about it when it came down to it. It doesn’t seem like we’re talking about fistulas, and I warned of the perception they know. I felt that these women heard a voice. It was part of my engagement for me.
Was it important that you travel to Africa and how have you improved your fistula behavior?
My experience of the war in Africa is shocking, but the women are so inspiring. In Nigeria I was heard in Kano and Katsina. I have seen women waiting for fistula surgery and women who had them. I also went to a village and to a woman who continued her life in her community after the operation.
I met a girl who had had a fistula for 16 years. It was just terrible – her baby had died, her husband had left her and she had been banned from her community. After the treatment, she was so important and looked forward to hearing a baby.
It’s important to believe that a simple $ 300 surgery can bring a woman back to life. These women are so happy that someone is helping them. Seeing one’s dignity is a good thing.
There are big social, social, social, and occupational health problems, but did you think this is the best way to change this disease?
The complaint about the treatment of fistulas works in three main administrations: treatment, treatment and rehabilitation. This is the key to ending the fistula. One of the other possible ways to prevent fistulas is to die.