The Regional Health Management Team in Essau, in collaboration with the Reproductive and Child Unit at the Department of State for Health and Social Welfare, recently organised a two-day sensitisation seminar on obstetric fistula for the communities of Aljamdu in Upper and Samba Kala in Lower Nuimi Districts, North Bank Region.

The purpose of the campaign was to increase community awareness on how obstetric fistula occurs and how it can be prevented. Speaking at Aljamdu, Nfamara Fatty, the senior reproductive and child health officer at the Department of State for Health and Social Welfare, underscored the importance the DoSH, in partnership with WHO and UNFPA, attaches to the prevention of obstetric fistula among women during childbirth. He noted that obstetric fistula is usually caused by several days of labor without medical intervention.

According to him, the campaign was aimed at ending fistula, to break the culture of silence around this condition and the stigma attached to it. He then urged parents and girls to desist from early marriage and pregnancy and advised them to always report to the nearest health facility on time.

Fatou Sanneh, a community health nurse tutor and Sutaring Drammeh, a regional public health nurse at Essau, both said that poverty, malnutrition, poor health services, early child bearing and discrimination are interlinked root causes of obstetric fistula. According to them, poverty is the main risk factor as it is associated with early marriage and malnutrition. They described fistulas as treatable as well as preventable.

They also highlighted the importance of the participation of men in this campaign as they need to support their women in determining at what age to marry and have children. “Counseling and support are also important to address emotional damage and facilitate social reintegration,” they observed. Speaking on behalf of the trainees, Amie Nyang of Chamen and Haddy Kebbeh, a TBA at Samba Kala, thanked the Department of State for Health and Social Welfare as well as their development partners for complementing the government’s efforts in the attainment of quality health services.

They expressed their belief that the knowledge gained will be disseminated widely to enable people to always report any labour case to the nearest health facility. The community of Samba Kala then appealed to the Department of State for Health and Social Welfare to provide them with an MCH trekking station as women travel long distances for health services.