By Our Staff Writer
In many parts of the developing world, bringing forth a child can mean life and death for the mother with Liberia being no exception. http://endfistula.org/what-fistula
According to the 2013 Liberia Demographic and Health Survey, there are about 1,072 maternal deaths for every 100,000 livebirths in the country. Many of the women who survive also have to grapple with childbearing injuries, including obstetric fistula. This is “a hole between the vagina and rectum or bladder that is caused by prolonged obstructed labour, leaving a woman incontinent of urine or feces or both.”
Juliet (not her real name) is a victim of such childbearing injuries. At age 35, she lives in a village along the Tubmanburg-Monrovia Highway. Juliet, who was pregnant with her fifth child, decided to move to Monrovia for safe delivery.
On February 8, 2019, Juliet started experiencing contractions and was taken to the Redemption Hospital in New Kru Town for delivery. But her delivery won’t be safe as she did not receive immediate attention.
“When I arrived at the Hospital, it some hours before the midwife would attend to me. After conducting my ultrasound, the midwife informed me that the baby was already dead. So this reason, she would not recommend a C-section because as she put it: she does not want me to suffer two times. When I asked what she meant by that; she responded that the death of the baby is already a pain and performing a c-section on me would add the pain of nursing the wound. As a result, they (the midwives) decided to pull out the dead baby from in me and that was how I came down with the problem of passing urine uncontrollably;” Juliet said.
According to the Lead Surgeon at the Reproductive Maternal Newborn Child Adolescent Health (RMNCAH) Foundation, Dr. John K. Mulbah, Juliet developed obstetric fistula because she did not receive prompt medical attention.
“During unassisted prolonged labor, the sustained pressure of the baby’s head on the mother’s pelvic bone damages her soft tissues, creating a hole—or fistula—between the vagina and the bladder and/or rectum. The pressure prevents blood flow to the tissue, leading to necrosis. Eventually, the dead tissue sloughs off, damaging the original structure of the vagina. The result is a constant leaking of urine and/or feces through the vagina;” Dr. Mulbah said.
Juliet is among 13 fistula patients who were recently treated by the Reproductive Maternal Newborn Child Adolescent Health (RMNCAH) Foundation, during a week-long Fistula Repair Campaign hosted at the Family Medical Center in Gardnersville, Monrovia.
The campaign was funded by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) through the Liberia Prevention of Maternal Mortality (LPMM).
According to RMNCAH Foundation Programme Lead Surgeon, Dr. John K. Mulbah, two of the fistula survivors who were recruited, could not be treated and have been rescheduled due to the recentness of their cases.
Dr. Mulbah said nearly all of the 15 fistula survivors who were recruited for the surgical campaign were victimized by obstetric fistula-childbearing injury- in the last six months.
“We are witnessing an increase in the number of women and girls developing fistula during childbirth in Liberia. With this new trend, we must direct more support toward strengthening the maternal and newborn health sector of the country,” Dr. Mulbah said.
Meanwhile, Dr. Mulbah has pledged the Foundation’s avowed commitment in fostering a sustained partnership with the government and other partners to ensure the availability of quality and affordable reproductive health services to the people of Liberia.