Goodwill Ambassador Visits Fistula Ward in Tanzania

DAR-ES-SALAAM, Tanzania — Yuko Arimori, an Olympic marathon medalist from Japan came to Tanzania to participate in the Ekiden Run for Peace in the heart of Ulyankulu Settlement for Burundian refugees. The event was organized by the UN High Commission on Refugees in collaboration with UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.

While she was in the country, Ms. Arimori, who also serves as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNFPA toured an obstetric fistula surgical ward, where women who have suffered from a terrible injury of childbearing are able to receive treatment.

She was impressed by the quality of services provided by Comprehensive Community-Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT) with support from UNFPA, which has just granted $18,500 to support its work with women living with fistula.

CCBRT, a local non-governmental organization established in 1994, is Tanzania’s largest provider of surgical and rehabilitation services for persons with disabilities, comprising a hospital in Dar-es-Salaam, community programmes, and training and advocacy units that benefit approximately 120,000 adults and children with disabilities and their caregivers every year.

In Tanzania, giving birth remains risky. Each year 13,000 women die in childbirth and from pregnancy-related causes. For every woman who dies, 20 other suffer birth injuries, including fistula, a severe medical condition in which a hole develops between either the woman’s bladder and vagina or between her rectum and vagina as a consequence of delayed childbirth. According to the Campaign to End Fistula, most of the cases could be prevented.

“Estimates point at 1,200 new cases of obstetric fistula annually only in Tanzania, or approximately 2 per cent of cases worldwide,” said Representative for the UNFPA office in Tanzania, Dr. Julitta Onabanjo. “Because they are often ostracized by their families and communities, women with fistula may be isolated, often for many years. Sadly, most women with the condition do not know that treatment is available, or they cannot afford it,” Dr. Onabanjo added.

Obstetric fistula occurs disproportionately among poor girls and women, especially those living far from medical services. The challenges faced by women living with fistula are devastating. The smell of leaking urine or faeces is constant and humiliating, often driving women away from their families and communities, diminishing their chances to get out of poverty.

According to CCBRT’s chief executive officer, Erwin Telemans, there are three well known barriers for women with fistula to have access to treatment: cost of surgery, of lodging and of transportation.

UNFPA support is helping to reduce all three barriers. “With UNFPA support, we have been able to upgrade a hostel so we can give women free lodging while they await surgery and we have been able to introduce a new scheme which allows us to pay transport costs via mobile technology,” said Telemans.

“In 2009, CCBRT carried out 160 fistula surgeries and the organization also facilitated the treatment of another 30 women in hospitals in northern Tanzania. While we are the second largest provider of fistula surgery in Tanzania, we still have capacity to do more,” he added.