UNFPA, Sudan's Ministry Of Health Training Health Care Workers In Obstetric Fistula Repair Surgery, Rehabilitation

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Pregnancy / Obstetrics;  Urology / Nephrology;  Rehabilitation / Physical Therapy
Article Date: 18 Jun 2007 - 12:00 PDT


The United Nations Population Fund and Sudan's Ministry of Health are conducting a month-long training session for health care workers in an effort to improve health services for obstetric fistula repair surgery and rehabilitation in the country, UN News Service reports. According to UN News Service, the training sessions are currently underway in the states of Jongolei, Lakes, Northern Bahr El Gazal and the Upper Nile (UN News Service, 6/12).

Obstetric fistulas develop when a fetus becomes lodged during labor in the narrow birth canal of a girl or young woman, causing pressure that blocks the flow of blood to vital tissues and tearing holes in the bowel, urethra or both, causing incontinence. Physicians can repair a small fistula surgically in less than two hours, but repairing a larger fistula and restoring a woman's continence sometimes requires more than one surgery (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 2/22).

According to the UN News Service, Sudan records about 5,000 new cases of the condition annually. In Southern Sudan, reproductive health problems such as fistulas are the leading cause of illness and death among women of childbearing age. Seven out of 10 states in Sudan do not have qualified midwives, and there are fewer than 30 general practitioners in all of Southern Sudan, further increasing the risk of developing fistulas, UN News Service reports.

Saira Stewart, UNFPA media officer, said the campaign will work with partners in Sudan to increase services for fistula care, providing a "much needed boost to Sudan's health system as a whole, particularly since it has one of the highest rates of maternal death in the world." Treatment for fistulas "goes far beyond the surgical repair," Stewart said, adding, "Many patients, especially those who have lived with the condition for years, will need emotional, economic and social support to fully recover from their ordeal."

In addition to the training session, UNFPA experts will visit Juba, Sudan, for two days, meeting with health officials and health care providers to emphasize the importance of preventing fistulas, UN News Service reports. "Prevention is at the heart of this campaign," Stewart said, adding, "In the long run, prevention also entails tackling underlying social and economic inequities through efforts aimed at empowering women and girls, enhancing their life opportunities and delaying marriage and childbirth."

The training sessions are part of UNFPA's "End Fistula" campaign, which is a worldwide campaign that is working in more than 40 countries to eradicate fistulas by 2015 (UN News Service, 6/12).

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