IT does not take only health professionals to fight the canker of obstetric fistula, since this deadly condition can be prevented with the support of various actors in the community.
This is the message that the Department of Women in the Northern Region has decided to drum home to the ears of inhabitants of the region, most of whom have for long stood aloof and watched women affected by fistula to suffer in silence.
This condition, according to medical experts, is a severe medical condition in which a hole, known as a fistula, develops either between the rectum and vagina or between the bladder and vagina of a woman after severe or failed childbirth.
It occurs when adequate medical care is not available for the woman in times of complications or sometimes due to sexual trauma.
Women who develop any of these conditions either pass urine or stool or both through the vagina, thereby putting them in a debilitating state.
As a result, they become outcasts in their families and communities because their condition makes them dirty in the eyes of other people and, consequently, many of them lose their marriages.
In some communities, fistula patients are even considered to have been afflicted by some form of witchcraft or a curse.
Personnel at the Department of Women therefore believe it is high time that the northern community are educated on the nature of fistula and how all could contribute towards its prevention.
In line with this objective, the department organised a symposia in Tamale to shed light on how every member of the community could help prevent fistula.
The symposia, which also discussed other areas of gender empowerment, formed part of activities to mark the centenary celebrations of the International Women’s Day.
In order to reach a wide range of critical actors in the community, the department ensured that the function was attended by opinion leaders, traditional rulers, women, students, health professionals, media personnel, among others.
Speaking at the symposia, a gynaecologist at the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH), Dr Banabas Gandaw noted that the occurrence of fistula was an indication of the failure of all partners to ensure the proper management of pregnancies.
He said pregnant women required a number of services to enable them undergo safe delivery and recuperation, some which include, family planning, antenatal care, comprehensive and emergency obstetric care and post-natal care.
Dr Gandaw, who spoke on the topic “proper management of pregnancies and obstetric fistula and related damages,” further explained that there were various roles that communities could play in ensuring safe motherhood.
Some of these, he mentioned, include providing transport, supporting the work of health professionals, encouraging men to be responsible, abolishing harmful traditional practices, championing the education of the girl-child and giving a voice to women.
“In fact, a prepared and responsible family and community is the primary source of good pregnancy outcomes,” he added.
Dr Gandaw stressed that pregnancy care should be the concern of all, “because it has to do with human existence,” adding that the birth of a girl child should mark the beginning of efforts to groom the child to undergo safe childbirth in her adult life.
In an interview, the Northern Regional Director of the Department of Women, Mr Zakari-Saa Patrick Seidu mentioned that several cases of obstetric fistula were now being reported in the region as the department raised awareness on this condition.
“We have been sensitising the communities on the need to support their women who are living with fistula by bringing them for treatment and showing care and concern to facilitate their recuperation,” he stated.
He said since the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) started supporting the fight against fistula, many women have been treated and successfully reintegrated into their families and communities.
The director again mentioned that parents were being encouraged to protect their female children from early marriages and teenage pregnancies, since these exposed the children to complications, such as fistula.
With these efforts, it is hoped that more women who are suffering in silence due to fistula would seek care and that the number of women who develop this condition each year would also reduce considerably.
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