– Nana Dr Ama Amissah III, the Omanhemaa of the Mankessim, has advised men to support their wives, sisters, and mothers who are suffering from Obstetric fistula, to help mitigate their plight.
She said the major challenges with obstetric fistula were stigma and more importantly ignorance, as well as the lack of education, and called for increased awareness of the condition to enable women to visit health facilities for early treatment.
Nana Hemaa gave the advice during an interactive session organised by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Accra to commemorate the International Day to End Obstetric Fistula.
It was on the theme “End Fistula Now: Invest in Quality Healthcare, Empower Communities”.
The theme, calls for funds to improve the quality of care and the key role of communities in addressing social, cultural, political, and economic factors that impact maternal health, sexual reproductive health, and reproductive rights.
Nana Amissah III described Obstetric fistulae as a medical condition whereby holes (fistulae) develop between a woman’s bladder and her birth canal, or between the last segment of her large intestine and her birth canal due to obstructed and prolonged labour.
The condition occurred in instances where a baby’s head does not fit into the birth canal, because either the mother’s pelvis was too small, or the infant’s head was too large.
She said the symptoms included flatulence, urinary or faecal incontinence, or both which may be continual or only happen at night.
Others included foul-smelling vaginal discharge, repeated vaginal or urinary tract infections, irritation or pain in the vagina or surrounding areas and pain during sexual activity, she said.
Nana Amissah III said during this devastating time in the life of women and girls, men needed to show all the care and affection they could give.
Even though there were no current data on obstetric fistula, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates in a 2018 report that between 50 000 and 100 000 women globally are affected annually by obstetric fistula.
She however referred to a Project being undertaken by the Catholic Archdiocese of Cape Coast, in which the number of Fistula Patients in the Central Region of Ghana was estimated between 3,000 and 5,000 with an incidence of 200 cases per year.
The Omanhemaa stated that since the establishment of the Fistula Unit in 2015 under the Project, approximately 600 women have had free fistula repair surgeries, with 50 more on the list awaiting their turn.
She called for continuous public education in all forms to raise the needed awareness, and the need to strengthen stakeholder collaboration in the fight to end obstetric fistula in Ghana.
Nana Hemaa further called on Chiefs, Queen mothers, individuals, non-governmental organisations, and opinion leaders to capitalize on their leadership positions to create awareness of the condition in their respective communities to garner support to protect and promote women’s rights to access quality healthcare to eliminate fistula by 2030.
She indicated that the Fistula Unit spent a total of GHS 4,050 on every fistula surgery so that beneficiaries would enjoy their liberation from “this debilitating condition for free.”
The Queen mother appealed to the government, stakeholders, individuals, and philanthropists to support and ensure the reintegration of women who had undergone obstetric fistula repair surgeries into the society through the “Enidado Foundation,” established to empower them with skills to earn a living.
Source: Ghana News Agency