International fistula day observed at Kpandai

The second International Day to End Obstetric Fistula has been commemorated to highlight the plight of fistula patients in the country.

The day, designated by the UN General Assembly last year, falls on May 23 every year and it  is set aside to create public awareness on the need to end stigmatisation of fistula victims for the appropriate bodies to ensure that victims receive adequate care and support.

This year, the day was observed at Buya in the Kpandai District in the Northern Region on the theme, “Tracking Fistula – Transforming Lives.”

Commitment

In her address at the event, the acting Country Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Ms Dennia Gayle, said many women went through the ordeal of fistula out of a simple desire to have a child.

“ Most women who develop fistula, which is a hole in the birth canal usually caused by prolonged, obstructed labour, remain untreated for their entire lives,” said Ms Gayle.

The theme of this year’s International Day to End Obstetric Fistula, therefore, reflects an important step forward “in our collective commitment toward eradicating this preventable condition and restoring the dignity and human rights of the estimated two million women and girls in developing countries, including here in Ghana, affected by this condition,” she added.

Ms Gayle indicated that the condition could easily recur in women and girls whose fistula had been surgically treated but who received little or no medical follow-up and then became pregnant again. 

While we work towards restoring the lives of women and girls affected by fistula, she said  we also have to eliminate the health crisis of obstetric fistula by scaling  up the country’s capacities to provide access to equitable, high-quality sexual and reproductive health services, including family planning, maternity care, skilled birth attendants and comprehensive emergency obstetric care. 

Campaign to End Fistula

Ms Gayle said the  UNFPA,  together with partners around the world, launched the global Campaign to End Fistula a decade ago following which the Tamale Fistula Centre was established

Since the campaign,  many women and girls living with fistula have been treated and some rehabilitated and re-integrated into their communities.  

“Much remains to be done, and far more support and momentum are needed to enable the campaign to reach all corners of the world and even here in Ghana, where women who suffer from fistula remain isolated and are often unaware that treatment is available or even possible,” said Ms Gayle.

Collaboration

The Kpandai District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Jatoh Moayi Jasper, said available statistics in health facilities in the district showed that about 99 per cent of all fistula cases recorded in the district was after child birth usually at home. 

“Closely related to this problem is lack of women seeking support from trained health care professionals throughout pregnancy and inadequate trained midwives in most of our facilities in the district,” Mr Jasper added. 

He called for total and absolute commitment from the health service, private sector and the local communities to be good ambassadors of change in promoting maternal health and fight against the stigmatisation of fistula patients. 

“Our own culture respects women, we should not neglect them when they find themselves in these unfortunate circumstances,” he said, and gave the assurance that the Kpandai District Assembly would be committed to ensuring prevention of fistula across the local communities through intensive public education campaigns. 

Dr Jacob Y. Mahama, Deputy Director, Public Health in the region, said  many fistula victims never presented themselves for treatment, hence they often suffer alone.

The Campaign to End Fistula, he said, was working to break the silence around this condition and the stigma attached to it.

He emphasised that prevention, rather than treatment, was the key to ending fistula, hence making family planning easily available complemented with skilled attendance at all births and emergency obstetric care for women who develop complications during delivery would make fistula as rare in the South as it is in the North. 

 Alhaji Mohammed Muniru Ilmuna,  the Northern Regional Minister, expressed the hope that the hosting of this programme by the chiefs and people of Kpandai would generate the necessary awareness on obstetric fistula even far beyond the boundaries of the Kpandai District.