Kathmandu, May 23
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Nepal has, on the occasion of the International Day to End Obstetric Fistula, has called for collaborative efforts to end the health condition that continues to affect the poorest, most vulnerable and marginalised women and girls in developing countries like Nepal where around 4,300 women are living with this condition.
Nepal has made significant progress in improving sexual and reproductive health and advancing reproductive rights of women and girls, the UNFPA states in a press release. “But many of them, especially the poor and vulnerable, still lack access to quality sexual and reproductive health information and services, including life-saving emergency obstetric care.”
Furthermore, they often live with the hole in the birth canal, which causes constant leakage of urine and faeces for years, ostracised by their community, often abandoned and living in isolation and confronted with guilt and shame, it states, adding: Now is the time to end this severely neglected health and human rights tragedy.
It appeals all to commit to end obstetric fistula within a generation.
The press release further states: To end fistula, we must ensure universal access to quality sexual and reproductive health services; eliminate gender-based social and economic inequities; prevent child marriage and early childbearing; promote education and broader human rights; and foster community participation in finding solutions, including through the active involvement of men as well as seeking the help of fistula survivors as advocates.
The theme of this year’s International Day to End Obstetric Fistula, “End fistula within a generation”, is a call to transform the world, it states. “As we talk about ending polio, HIV/AIDS, and so many other forms of suffering, so must we commit to stepping up our efforts to end fistula, once and for all. This means heeding the call of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to leave no one behind,” reads the press release.
UNFPA states ending fistula remains one of its highest priorities, adding it will continue to accelerate efforts, both in our own work with the Government of Nepal and partner agencies. The global Campaign to End Fistula, which UNFPA launched in Nepal in 2010, together with the government and partners, has “helped recognise obstetric fistula as a public health issue and enabled provision of prevention, treatment, capacity building and advocacy programmes.”
While significant progress has been made, far more remains to be done, it states. We cannot give up until every single woman and girl living with fistula has been treated. We cannot give up until every fistula survivor receives the social reintegration and support services she needs to rebuild her life, reclaim her dignity, and restore her hope and dreams for the future.
