Obstetric fistula is a devastating condition caused by several days of obstructed labour, without medical intervention. The baby usually dies, and the woman is left with chronic incontinence.
Because of this she is often abandoned or neglected by her husband and family and ostracised by her community. At least two million women in the world suffer from this condition.
The United Nations Population Fund has just launched a campaign in the UK to raise awareness of its goal to end obstetric fistula by 2015. To find out what needs to be done, we talk to Dr. Arletty Pinel, Chief of the Reproductive Health Branch at the UN’s Population Fund and to Dr Gloria Esegbona, an obstetrician and gynaecologist who treats women suffering from the condition in Nigeria.
