Thirteen Fistula survivors recently graduated from the Fistula Rehabilitation and Reintegration Program run by the Liberia Prevention of Maternal Mortality in Monrovia after completing several life skill vocations.
The female graduates, mostly teenagers, had suffered stigma in various locales as a result of shameful fistula they have suffered from for years.
The fistula survivors, beautifully dressed in uniform African attire, dramatized their past lives- how they came down with the illness and how stigma kept them in doors. The smiling graduates ventured in vocations as Tie/Dye, Soap-making, cosmetology, Pastry and Tailoring.
In its drive to bring smiles to the victims of fistula, the maternal mortality prevention outfit is collaborating with the Ministry of Health and chief sponsor-the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to rehabilitate and reintegrate fistula sufferers across the country.
Speaking at the second circle graduation program in the Monrovia suburb of Jacob Town recently, the head of the local program, Dr. John Mulbah, said his organization is happy to bring smiles to young Liberian females suffering from the embarrassing disease by not only repairing but restoring hope through vocation.
Dr. Mulbah praised the cooperation of national government and the continued financial and logistical support of UNFPA to the project. He however hopes there would come more support to the program in training many medical practitioners in specialized areas. He said support is also needed to further decentralize the project to additional parts of the country.
He said fistula is prevalence in the country partly due to teenage pregnancy and lack of medical facilities in rural Liberia. Poverty, which is menacing in Liberia, is a factor to fistula. However, fistula is both preventable and treatable.
The World Health Organization estimates that approximately 2 million women have untreated fistula and that approximately 100,000 women develop fistula each year. Fistula is most prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
According to a fast fact on fistula, in developing countries, the poverty and malnutrition in children contributes to the condition of stunting, where the girl skeleton, and therefore pelvis as well, do not fully mature. This stunted condition can contribute to obstructed labor, and therefore fistula. This is typical to Liberia following years of civil war.