FISTULA PATIENTS IN URGENT NEED OF TREATMENT

Missing Link Uganda (ML-Uganda) is a Civil Society Organisation operating in Uganda. The organisation was established in 2007 and focuses on addressing Obstetric Fistula among women in Uganda.

The number of women with fistula is growing and many women with the problem cannot access surgery. Of the 200,000 women suffering from fistula in the country, only 2,000 are able to undergo operation in a year.

Fistula results from injury during child birth and causes women to endure continuous urine and fecal leakage. Obstetric Fistula, the commonest form of fistula in Uganda, results from maternal injury during child birth where a whole or abnormal opening in the birth canal results in chronic leakage of urine, feces or both. For every women that dies during child birth, about 20 to 30 survive with complications including fistula. Unfortunately, the cost of carrying out surgery is very high. It costs $400 (Uganda shillings 1 million) to operate on an individual, which makes it costly to treat many patients because of the limited resources that both ML-Uganda and the Ministry of Health have.

Fistula is a forgotten part of the society and we need to raise awareness to gain resources and sensitising of the community about prevention.

The causes of fistula in general, include sexual violence, rape, failure to attend antenatal services in time, operations that go wrong, teenage and child marriages and births that are not attended to by skilled personnel.

The fistula situation is worsening and this calls for prevention strategies to avert future cases. Training of young health practitioners needs to be enhanced and communities must be sensitised.

We need every body's support to ensure we sensitise the young girls and women, key stakeholders and also to take the fistula patients for surgery and treatment.

You can contact us: missinglinkuganda@yahoo.com or missinglinkuganda@gmail.com, Tel.
+256 701 204052