Lauren Auton, 11/6/09, 2:15 PM
Dr. Lewis Wall, an ob-gyn, has been helping women in many countries over the years by providing surgeries for their obstetric fistulas. Women suffering from these fistulas have usually incurred the problem after a childbirth injury. In times where a C-section is needed, but cannot be accessed, internal injuries can result to the mother. This is especially common in young women, around the ages of 13, 14, or 15 and do not have a fully developed pelvis yet. Because of these obstetric fistulas, these women are left in a state of incontinence, constantly trickling urine or even feces through their vagina. These women are the pariahs and they are forced to live by themselves after being abandoned by their husband. The pariahs often feel that they have been cursed by God as a result of the scorn and humiliation they go through.
But luckily for some of these women, Dr. Wall has dedicated his life to helping them and is even in the process of having a hospital built in Niger just for these suffering women. It is good to be able to find some good in places like this for women. Many of these surgeries do not take long at all to complete, some even lasting under twenty minutes, and they can change a woman's whole way of life. This hospital that Dr. Wall is currently under the process of building is only one of forty that are part of a vision to help women suffering from fistulas in the world's poorest countries.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/opinion/01kristof.html?_r=1
No comments:
Post a Comment