International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

Fistula care in Nigeria is providing a great deal of relief for patients, but limited resources mean not enough women are being treated. 

According to the Vanguard, 18 indigent women have been treated at the Vesico Vagina Fistula Centre in the town of Ogoja, Cross River State and patients have described how the medical care they received has given them a new lease of life.

Mrs Paulina Alolo from Bebuabong Village lived with a vaginal fistula - which is characterised by an uncontrollable leakage of urine - for ten years and said that she was forced to stop farming and had no way of providing for herself.

Now after the simple surgery, she is free to run her own trading business from her home.

However, the Country Manager of USAID's Fistula Care Project Chief Iyeme Efem said that all the centres in Nigeria combined can only treat around 4,000 cases annually.

He added that more funding was needed to address the backlog of 150,000 fistula cases in the country - a number that grows by 12,000 every year.

Posted by Martine Ward