The Ministry of Health and partners in Kenya have stepped up efforts to reduce fistula related deaths in the country as it remains one of the leading causes of death and suffering among pregnant women.
According to Dr. Edward Serem who is the head of Reproductive Maternal Neonatal child and Adolescent Health ( RMNCAH), the country loses at least 3,000 pregnant women every year due to fistula.
He said this during the launch of the Holistic Care and Treatment for Women with Childbirth and Other Pelvic Floor Injuries book developed by Women And Development Against Distress In Africa (WADADIA- HABITAT) Mother and Child Holistic Health and Training Hospital in Malindi town, Kilifi County where he also challenged Kenyans to register with the Social Health Authority (SHA) since it covered expectant mothers.
Dr. Serem lauded WADADIA- HABITAT hospital for being in the forefront in addressing fistula challenges among women in the country and committed government support in ensuring that all women in distress got help.
“Surgeries which we have done will go a long way and I want to thank WADADIA- HABITAT because they have been consistent in making sure that we do medical surgeries. Fistula is still a problem in our country and the problem is as a result of delays in health care and this most of the time is because of obstructed labor,” he said.
He added that, “Women are still suffering and in Kenya we lose about 3,000 every year on conditions related to maternal health and as the ministry of health we are sensitizing pregnant women to attend antenatal care and we also advocate that all pregnant women deliver at health care facilities.”
Obstetric fistula in Kenya affects approximately 3,000 women annually, primarily due to prolonged, obstructed labor in rural areas with poor access to emergency care with the condition causing chronic leakage of urine and feces, leading to extreme stigma and isolation.
Rachel Pope, an obstetrics gynecologist and fistula surgeon from the University Hospital Cleveland UHC said that cervical cancer causes 300,000 deaths annually and 100 million girls worldwide remain out of school and another 12 million girls are married when they are below 18 years with one in three girls undergoing Gender Based Violence.
She added that even though some countries had eradicated fistula more than 100 years ago, there was a need to help other countries achieve 100 percent eradication, adding that cervical cancers also contributed significantly in women deaths in the world.
“Every year, preventable cancers disproportionately affect women, especially cervical cancer and it causes more than 300,000 deaths annually in the world,” she said.
Habiba Mohamed, the founder of WADADIA-HABITAT said that in the past week more than 80 women suffering from fistula underwent free surgeries and that the surgeries will continue so that the country can achieve its goal in eradicating the condition.
“We have done more than 80 fistula surgeries in the past week in our hospital and it was all free of charge since we need to help the ministry of health to walk through eradication of fistula in the country,” she said.
Kilifi Governor Gideon Mung’aro while addressing women at the Karisa Maitha grounds in Kilifi town, said that the county will officially open a cancer center on 8th April where women will get treatment for among others, cervical cancer.
“Our mothers who have suffered from cervical cancer have a reason to smile because we are going to open a cancer center where patients will get treated and women will get free cervical cancer vaccines,” he said.
