KaRika Jones
April 15, 2011
7:05pm
Amina, 17 years old, is one out of 2 million women in the world (almost 800,000 in Nigeria) with fistula. This disease happens when a mother is in labor and the child's head is pressed against the mother's pelvic bone. The blood supply to the tissue died which resulted in a hole in Amina's bladder and vagina. She was abandoned by her husband like many others, so she spent the next 19 years interacting with her immediate family. The obstetric care is so poor that it would take a woman a day to get to the hospital and another day to be treat. So because of this result, one of eighteen Nigerian women die at childbirth, compared to one of 4,800 in the United States. Culture plays an important role in this situation. Woman marry young like below the age of 18 in Nigeria. Men are also very dominate and are the ones who give the woman permission to go to the hospital and to do any procedures. This causes further emergency delays.
For ways that people and governments are trying to prevent fistulas is by opening a fistula/maternity ward and outreach program in hopes to get women to give births in hospitals because its safer. Surgeon Said Abubakar reconstructs the vaginal walls for those who were already afflicted. For therapy the women listen to music and dance. The fistula issue has been address to the U.S. Congress by Representative Carolyn Maloney, but advocates of maternal health felt the issue has been neglected.
In all seriousness, I am glad the Nigerian women have a great hope of getting a second change to live. Since women are most conscious and emotional, its important that these women have something to look forward to. I believe that's why the therapy is set up that way so women can feel more vibrant since they have been shunned away from their community by the fistula disease. As for the United States, though we have a low chance as women of getting the disease I believe the country should still be a part of the prevention movement. United States has the best resources of spreading awareness and prevention programs. I feel that these resources should go to other countries because its affecting over 2 million women every year.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/nigeria/110325/clinic-fistula-women?page=full
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