A new campaign was launched in Dublin this week with the aim of ringing an end to a preventable condition that affects up to two million women and girls around the world.
The campaign, SafeBirth4All, was launched ahead of International Day to End Obstetric Fistula.
Spiritan missionary Fr Edward Flynn CSSp told those assembled for the launch by the First Lady, Sabina Higgins, wife of President Michael D. Higgins, that SafeBirth4All was not “a pie in the sky campaign” because the condition is preventable.
He stressed the need for education on women’s human rights and a holistic approach to the reintegration and rehabilitation of those women affected by obstetric fistula, who are often ostracised when they develop the condition.
Obstetric fistula occurs after a prolonged or obstructed labour that results in an abnormal opening between a woman’s birth canal and her urinary tract and/or rectum. The physical injury results in one or both urinal and faecal incontinence and other medical complications such as infection.
Since 2019, Geneva-based Fr Flynn has been working full time on this issue, though he first became aware of it in Pakistan as a missionary in the late 1970s.
He said it is estimated that between 700,000 and up to two or three million women globally are living with obstetric fistula. “Clearly, one of the challenges facing us is acquiring accurate data on this devastating condition.”
Dr Toni Pyke, Justice, Peace and Ecology Co-ordinator with the Association of Leaders of Missionaries and Religious of Ireland (AMRI) said most of the women affected are poor, live in rural areas, have little or no access to maternal healthcare and live within the confines of a patriarchal society where, as young women without social standing, they have limited capacity to negotiate their existence.
“They are dependent on their families and their elders; traditional structures dictate their reality. They are in many ways are unseen and unheard,” she said.
The new campaign according to Dr Pyke, “aims to amplify the voices and the reality of women and girls across the world who are experiencing the trauma of obstetric fistula.” She underlined that obstetric fistula is a human rights issue and an issue of human dignity.
Dr Nadia Ramoutar, Communications Co-ordinator for the Medical Missionaries of Mary (MMM), explained that for many of the people working on the campaign for SafeBirth4All it had been their life’s work.
The coalition group behind the campaign, she explained, “are here because of our frustration”, we are tired of seeing “millions of women suffer needlessly”; and are working to prevent and to heal and to eradicate obstetric fistula.
She highlighted how one of the causes of fistula is young girls who are married at a very early age. Often to a man who is much older.
Most of women affected are ostracised by their families and society because of the side effects of the condition. But repair surgery enabled them to go back to their homes.
Central to the campaign is awareness-raising about the devastating impact fistula has on women and reducing stigma.
The goal, Nadia Ramoutar said, is to raise public, national and international awareness around women’s reproductive health and expand access to emergency obstetric and surgical services and supporting holistic and high-quality obstetric fistula care for all who need it.
She described the Medical Missionaries of Mary are “pioneers” in fistula repair surgery.
Sr Ursula Sharpe, Congregational Leader of the Medical Missionaries of Mary, paid tribute to two MMMs, Sr Anne Ward and Sr Maura Lynch, who worked at the “coalface” to repair and rehabilitate women and girls living with obstetric fistula.
Over forty years ago Sr Anne Ward developed a simplified surgical approach to fistula as well as pre op and post op care.
Sr Anne Ward treated more than 2,000 fistula cases and carried out more than 3,000 surgeries while Sr Maura Lynch facilitated 1,300 operations.
Mrs Sabina Higgins said there was very little known about obstetric fistula in Ireland, and she expressed the hope that the campaign would raise awareness as successfully as the campaign against female genital mutilation.
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