Fistula Foundation

I’ve just been to the Fistula Hospital here in Addis Ababa to do a recce for a BBC story I’m doing later in the week. It is an inspirational place.

Sister Ruth Kennedy, a Baptist missionary from America who’s been here for 12 years and at the hospital for six, showed me round.

The hospital takes women who have had obstructive labours - many of them end up with holes in their bladders or rectums. As a result they smell and are often ostracised by their husbands, families and friends. Some travel for days to get to the hospital for treatment.

Fistula is a big problem in developing countries - each year 100,000 women are affected by obstetric fistula. It’s something the developing world put an end to with caesareans.

The Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia is one of its kind. And they are opening new centres in Mekele, Metu in the Gambela Region and I think down south somewhere. At the moment, there’s one in Bahar Dar as well as in Addis.

It was the atmosphere that particularly struck me. Everyone (mostly women) was so friendly. The staff seemed to genuinely care about the patients and know them well.

Anyone interested in finding out more….www.fistulafoundation.org

Comments

[Yohannes Assefa]

Welcome back, Amber!!

[Heidi Breeze-Harris]

I'm so glad that you are writing about fistula. I am the co-founder of a volunteer initiative called One By One (www.onebyoneproject.net) that supports the Campaign to End Fistula which works with and supports the Addis Hospital along with fistula prevention and treatment programs in 35 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and some Arab states. We are very inspired by the Addis hospital and their ground breaking work in Ethiopia. We are so grateful for the amazing work of Dr. Catherine Hamlin and her entire staff and of course the amazing folks at the Fistula Foundation.

We want to spread the word that fistula is a problem in Ethiopia and in many other places as well. We hope that your work with BBC and all the different grassroots programs like ours will spur more people get into action to give money to the Addis hospital and to the Campaign to End Fistula through One By One.

It is so easy to help one woman overcome this terrible condition and we support any way that people get involved! I'm glad to read about your trip and now will go looking for your BBC piece, or you can send me the link!