- Women and girls are left leaking urine or faeces and can face other physical problems, including frequent infections.
- They are often shunned, unable to work or go to school, and are driven deeper into poverty.
Image: FILE
Obstetric fistula is preventable yet it continues to torment many women across the world, especially the most marginalized and impoverished women and girls.
The toll of this injury is devastating.
They are often shunned, unable to work or go to school, and are driven deeper into poverty.
Like other women and girls who endure this condition, June (not her real name) has faced it all.
The mother of two who hails from Limuru got complications when she was giving birth to her secondborn child.
"After I had delivered my secondborn, I felt wet only to realise that I had wetted my clothes. I went back to the hospital and the doctor told me that I had a tear from pushing hard the baby," said June.
She says that her journey with fistula has not been an easy one.
She has faced stigma, shockingly from her family and the rest of the community members.
"When family noted that I had suffered the disease, they ordered me to get back to the village which I refused and decided to continue living by my means in Limuru Town," said June.
According to her, family members always acted with anger whenever her clothes got soaked in urine.
"They could harshly order me to go and shower something that pissed me off," she said.
Speaking at the Mother and Child Hospital in Makueni where she is undergoing treatment, June said that she's recuperating well after surgery.
Asked how she got here, June said that a certain lady linked her after several attempts saw her turn down attempts to see her get treatment.
"My inner Spirit whispered to me that I should stop the fear and go to Makueni to seek treatment," she recalled.
June had two fears, lack of fare and being lost in the big city of Nairobi since she had never been there before.
"I did not have a phone to communicate in my movements. I wondered how I would manoeuvre in the big city up to Makueni," noted June.
A neighbour had indicated to her the direction to Makueni in a paper and just like that her journey to treatment kicked off.
"When I arrived in Makueni, I asked for directions to the hospital and I entered the gate with the hope that I would come out a healed mother," said a smiling June.
She says she has forgiven her family and her husband who bet and dumped her almost to death and left her to fend for herself and her children after she fell sick.
"I hustled at a tea farm and earned Sh150 in a day which was never enough but kept me and my children going," reiterated the mother of two.
June's worst moment was going to church with her handbag carrying pampers not for her baby but for herself, and not a Bible.
"I am happy that all this is a thing of the past thanks to Makueni Hospital's intervention in conjunction with Jhpiego," he said.
Her clarion call to all young mothers and aged women is to stop hiding and come out for treatment.
Makueni County has launched a national strategy to prevent and treat fistula.
Doris Mbithi, Practicing Obstetrician Gynecologist & Fistula Surgeon in Makueni County Referall says that the County launched Routine Service in March 2023 and that all services for Fistula are offered.
"Every Tuesday we hold a clinic for Fistula patients where we screen and book them for surgery if due, we have treated 53 patients so far and managed to do a follow-up in partnership with Jhpiego," said Mbithi.
The biggest challenge, she said, has been myths and misconceptions in the community and the fear of being judged due to the smell of faeces and urine leakage.
Mbithi said some women have stayed with the disease for a large period of over 40 years with others going for a year.
She urged countries to recognise that fistula is prevalent and that women with the condition exist.
Mbithi said funds should be allocated to fight the disease and establish fistula centres across the nation so that women don't travel from one corner to the other seeking services.