United Nations Radio

fistula graphic

INTRO: Obstetric fistula, a debilitating condition caused by prolonged childbirth which renders survivors incontinent for life, continues to cause great pain and embarrassment for women across the developing world. But with the means of prevention and cure neither difficult nor expensive, a global push to eliminate the condition once and for all is underway. UN Radio's Nick Baker reports.

Sarah Omega Kidangasi of Kenya was one among hundreds of thousands of women in the developing world suffering from the debilitating condition of obstetric fistula.

For most of her adult life, Ms Kidangasi's days were spent either in social isolation or enduring brutal discrimination from her community.

But two years after receiving successful treatment for the condition, she is traveling the world and telling her story.

"I grew up in abject poverty, orphaned at the age of 11. I dropped out of school for lack of fees, and got pregnant at 19 through the beastly act of rape. From this dehumanizing encounter, I developed a life-threatening complication; obstetric fistula. Day and night for 12 years, up to May 2007, my life was continually put on the verge. With uncontrolled leaking, foul smell, stigma, isolation, pain and rejection, it was like dying every day."

Ms Kidangasi spoke at a United Nations Population Fund Conference in Geneva this week in front of more than 400 health ministers, foreign ministers and ambassadors from across the globe.

She said that the global community had an obligation to act on improving maternal health among the poorest of the poor.

"It is disappointing to note that maternal health is the area of least progress of all millennium development goals. Records indicate a disgusting reality. A woman dies every minute from complications arising from pregnancy and childbirth. More than half a million die in a year. In the 21st century when the world has both the scales and the means to make motherhood safe, it is heartbreaking that a woman should die while she gives life."

But Australian singer and fistula campaigner Natalie Imbruglia said at the conference that with a global push, stories like that of Ms Kidangasi could become a thing of the past.

"The good news is that it is possible to end fistula and to end millions of women's suffering. Like maternal mortality, fistula is almost entirely preventable if women have access to reproductive health care, family planning, skilled birth attendants and emergency obstetric care if things go wrong."

Nick Baker for United Nations Radio.

(duration: 2'57")