Over 3,500 cases of obstetric fistula in Pakistan every year

Islamabad
More than 3,500 cases of obstetric fistula occur each year in Pakistan, while an estimated 2 million women live with fistula in the developing countries. Thousands of other women simply suffer in silence, unaware that they can seek medical assistance.
Recognising the gravity of the challenge in hand, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and partners Friday called for collective actions and investment in maternal health to ‘End Fistula, Restore Women’s Dignity.’ The occasion was the 3rd International Day to End Obstetric Fistula, which is observed on May 23 each year.
“Let us decide, as a global community, that the world we want is one where fistula no longer exists,” said Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, executive director of UNFPA, “Let us, once and for all, put an end to this assault on women’s and girls’ health and human rights, which steals from them their very dignity and destroys the most fundamental of human qualities: hope. Much of the world has already virtually eliminated fistula. It is time to finish the job. Let us all work together to wipe fistula off the map.”
“There has been considerable progress, much more needs to be done. The time has come to put an end to obstetric fistula and restore women’s dignity,” said Mark Bryan Schreiner, UNFPA Pakistan officer-in-charge. “We need to put the rights and dignity of women and girls including the invisible, disenfranchised and voiceless in the post-2015 agenda to transform the vision of ending preventable maternal injuries and to address the circumstances that perpetuate it, including lack of access to skilled birth attendants, child marriage and early childbearing, and gender discrimination.”
UNFPA Pakistan and its partners are undertaking a series of advocacy events at the national and provincial levels to create awareness on the importance of skilled obstetric care and to fight against stigmatisation of women with fistula.
Following the Regional Fistula Conference (Lahore, March) that brought together 350 participants from across Pakistan and neighbouring countries, a series of advocacy seminars have taken place in Baluchistan (May 3) and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (May 28). The events are bringing together, over 480 participants including key officials from department of health, MNCH Programme, National Programme for Primary Health Care, President of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Pakistan, health care providers, civil society representatives, volunteers, families, media and development partners to discuss the prevention, treatment and social reintegration of fistula for Pakistan’s women and girls.
This International Fistula Day appreciates the courage and willpower of fistula survivors. Women like Razia from Punjab whose husband died in the road traffic accident when she was six months pregnant. She developed recto-vaginal and vesico-vaginal fistula while delivering a dead baby in 2007. “I was disowned by in-laws and with my parents support I went to the UNFPA-supported Fistula Hospital in Karachi for treatment and emotional healing. I became dry after series of repeated complex fistula surgeries,” said Razia. She got married and adopted a two year-old baby and living a normal life with dignity. Razia has become a good-will ambassador and representing Pakistan at the World Health Assembly side-event on Fistula in Geneva on May 22 to celebrate the International Fistula Day 2015 with the world.
The global Campaign to End Fistula, launched in 2003 by UNFPA and partners, has catalyzed progress towards eliminating fistula through its three-pronged strategy of prevention, treatment and social reintegration. Over the last 8 years, the collective efforts of the UNFPA’s campaign have surgically treated more than 4,100 fistula cases, rehabilitated over 550 fistula patients and trained around 1,000 health professionals to treat and manage fistula and obstetric complications.
Yet, the continued prevalence of fistula is a clear signal that enough is not yet being done to protect the lives and health of women.