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Obstetric Fistula in Ethiopia
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| “The award winning feature-length documentary A Walk to Beautiful tells the stories of five Ethiopian women who suffer from devastating childbirth injuries and embark on a journey to reclaim their lost dignity. |
Advocates for Women's Reproductive Rights
living in
Westchester County
are invited to
a special private screening of
the 2009 Emmy-winning film *
“A Walk to Beautiful”
Tuesday, January 19th
6:30 – 9 pm
LMC-TV Studio 1
Mamaroneck High School
Following the film
a discussion about
obstetric fistula treatment, prevention, and community reintegration
will be led by
Carrie Ngongo,
Fistula Care Program Coordinator
of EngenderHealth.
RSVP to Fran Snedeker, Producer and Moderator of Future Choices
The screening is free and all are welcome, BUT seating capacity in the studio is limited,
therefore reservations are required.
Upon receipt of your response, directions to the LMC-TV Studio will be sent to you.
“The award winning feature-length documentary A Walk to Beautiful tells the stories of five Ethiopian women who suffer from obstetric fistula and embark on a journey to reclaim their lost dignity. One hundred years after obstetric fistula was eliminated in developed countries, this birth injury remains a major peril to millions of young women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and some Arab States. Rejected by their husbands and ostracized by their communities, these women are left to spend the rest of their lives in loneliness and shame.
In
A Walk to Beautiful they choose to escape their banishment and "take the long and arduous journey to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in search of a cure and a new life.”
[See further: http://www.walktobeautiful.com/]
While exposing us to the horrors of the entirely preventable affliction, obstetric fistula, the film, A Walk to Beautiful, uplifts our souls with its gentle revelations of the compassionate courage of the medical staff at the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital as they lead Ayehu, Almaz, Zewdie, Yenenesh and Wubete from the depths of despair to a new empowerment. We cannot help but be moved by the dignity of these women as each puts her life back together after years of physical and emotional trauma. On the way we are led on a breathtaking travelogue through Ethiopia to the accompaniment of music drawn from traditional folksongs as well as original pieces composed for the film. The hauntingly emotive performance of the a capella chorus of the Fistula Hospital Nurses will reside with you long after the film's closing credits. The film has merited high acclaim from a number of critics, including:
New York Times
FilmCritic.Com
Village Voice
Viewers of A Walk to Beautiful universally concur that the film is a deserving recipient of the 2009 Emmy® Award for Outstanding Informational Programming for the 52-minute version that premiered on NOVA (PBS) in 2008.
At our private screening of A Walk to Beautiful on January 19th Carrie Ngongo of EngenderHealth will pick up where the film ends, drawing from her intensive experience working with African women debilitated by obstetric fistula. Carrie has herself won accolades from Nicholas Kristof for her essay in response to Half the Sky in which she as a first-time mother compares her own joyous experience of childbirth to the adversity faced by less fortunate women in the developing world.
In the course of our journey across Ethiopia we learn:
- what causes obstetric fistula to occur.
- that it is an affliction of poor, uneducated women.
- what happens to women afflicted with obstetric fistula.
- that obstetric fistula is fully preventable.
- that usually fistula repair is an inexpensive, relatively simple medical procedure for trained physicians.
- that the UNFPA, EngenderHealth, Worldwide Fistula Fund, the Fistula Foundation are among the NGOs expending extraordinary efforts to help save women from obstetric fistula.
- that Nicolas Kristof's 2003 OpEd column about the founder of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital draws a poignant picture of women who have been rescued from obstetric fistula.
- that we all have a role in spreading the word and raising awareness about this issue.
Allison Shigo, co-producer of the documentary, A Walk to Beautiful, has taken up the cause of women afflicted with obstetric fistula.
- She writes very movingly about it in Huffington Post: "How We Got a Film About a Serious Childbirth Injury (Obstetric Fistula) That No One in America Ever Heard of Into Movie Theaters"
Quite possibly there is fear about what we will find, that while women in developed nations have adequate access to maternal health care, hundreds of thousands of women in developing countries are either dying while giving birth or die a symbolic death when they develop a fistula are left to live the rest of their lives alone. It is an innocent imprisonment caused by poverty and lack of medical care. |MORE
- Moreover she has established a nonprofit corporation "to help empower women who have suffered from childbirth injuries including obstetric fistula:"Healing Hands of Joy.
MORE about Allison Shigo.
See Future Choices video about A Walk to Beautiful in three parts:
Part 1 |
Part 2 |
Part 3 |
When is Future Choices aired in your community?
See Local TV schedule for time and channel in each participating community in Westchester County.
| Women with fistula show extraordinary courage and dignity despite humiliation of continuous leaking. |
Allison Shigo co-produced the award-winning film, A Walk to Beautiful, winner of an Emmy in 2009 and numerous other awards. |MORE about Allison's career. Emanating from her experiences in putting this film together Allison
EngenderHealth Addresses Obstetric Fistula 
Obstetric fistula, a debilitating complication of childbirth, persists in many developing countries. The Fistula Care Project is helping to strengthen fistula management and prevention services worldwide. For more information about the Fistula Care Project, please visit www.fistulacare.org .
Sifa’s Story
Program Background
The Fistula Care Project is a five-year cooperative agreement funded by USAID and managed by EngenderHealth. The Project works...|MORE
Fast Facts about obstetric fistula
• For every woman who dies from pregnancy-related complications, 20 women survive but experience terrible injuries and disabilities.
• In Ethiopia, there are 59 OB/GYNs and 1,000 midwives for a population of 77 million.
• Number of patients treated at the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital every year: 1,200
• Number of obstetric fistula cases occurring in Ethiopia alone each year: 9,000
• More than 99% of The Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital patients are illiterate.
See further
Obstetric fistula is an injury resulting from obstructed labor
Fistula results from obstructed labor, in which the infant is too large or in the wrong position to pass through the woman's pelvis. Girls who become pregnant before their bodies are fully developed or women whose growth is stunted from malnutrition often have small pelvises that make them prone to obstructed labor, the Times reports. If prolonged, obstructed labor not only is life-threatening to the woman and the infant, it can injure tissue when the woman's bladder, uterus and vagina are crushed between the pelvic bone and the infant's skull. This injured tissue can develop a fistula, a hole that results in a constant urine stream through the vagina and, in some cases, nerve damage in the legs. Some women also suffer damage to the rectum, which can result in stool leakage. |MORE
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What happens to women afflicted with obstetric fistula
If the misery of uncontrolled leaking of urine (and sometimes feces) isn't enough, these women and girls are ostracized and disdained by their families and communities. Without being cured, women with fistula commonly spend the remaining years of their lives in shame and isolation, literally waiting to die. |MORE
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Obstetric fistula is preventable
Prevention, rather than treatment, is the key to ending fistula. Making family planning available to all who want to use it would reduce maternal disability and death by at least 20 per cent. Complementing that with skilled attendance at all births and emergency obstetric care for those women who develop complications during delivery would make fistula as rare in the South as it is in the North. These interventions are part of UNFPA's overall strategy to make motherhood safer. Addressing social issues that contribute to the problem - such as early pregnancy, girls' education, poverty and women's empowerment - are important areas of intervention as well. |MORE
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Uncomplicated fistula cases can be repaired with a fairly simple operation.
An uncomplicated fistula surgery is essentially the mending of a hole in the bladder or rectum. It can usually take place through the vagina without a major incision. Success rates can be as high as 90 per cent for experienced surgeons working in well-equipped facilities. But the operation is delicate, and specially trained surgeons and support staff are required. Two or more weeks of post-operative care is also essential.
Some women are so debilitated when they arrive for treatment that they need weeks or months of care before they are strong enough to undergo the operation. Sometimes women have also suffered nerve damage and need extensive physical therapy. Counseling to address emotional trauma and social support is often necessary for complete healing.
Nicolas Kristof's 2003 OpEd column about the founder of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital
We in journalism tend to write about scoundrels, but today let me instead hail a saint for our age.
Dr. Catherine Hamlin, 79...|MORE
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What we can do about obstetric fistula
We can all lend support to women suffering from obstetric fistula by spreading the word about this affliction. A variety of creative ways to get involved are outlined in the WALK TO BEAUTIFUL Take Action Guide.
For further information about obstetric fistula, go here.
This page last updated February 10, 2010 8:53 .