Obstetric Fistula Repair Camp At Bwaila Hospital

• women having the condition encouraged to come for repair
• The operation to be done at no cost

Bwaila Fistula Care Centre

The Bwaila Fistula Care Centre, this year's host of UNFPA Fistula Camp has urged women having Obstetric Fistula condition to come for operation during the camp period starting on 27th September.

Fistula camps are held to allow more women having the condition to get repaired in a specified period by number of surgeons who fly in the country to support resident surgeons and clinical officers.

“We are hosting this year’s UNFPA camp and we are ready" confirmed National Coordinator for Freedom from Fistula Foundation, Margaret Moyo, and also confirmed that with assistance from UNFPA "Surgeons are coming from outside Malawi and we already have our own resident surgeons and clinical officers to do fistula operations.”

Moyo explains that, for the first two weeks of the camp, the operations will be done at Bwaila Hospital in Fistula Care Centre found in Lilongwe just behind the Minibus depot.

While encouraging women having the problem to come for repair operation, Moyo says the operation is free.

She has since appealed to all people of good will to inform and encourage women living with the condition to hurry for the opportunity.

She also encouraged women with the condition to go to their nearest hospitals for screaning their condition and to Bwaila Fistula Centre for operation.

These camps are sponsored by UNFPA have previously been conducted at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre and in Mangochi. This year Bwaila Fistula Care Centre expects to repair not less than 100 women.



Obstetric Fistula is an abnormal connection between the bladder and or the rectum and the vagina which result in the continuous leakage of urine and or feaces  through the vagina following obstructed labour.




Figures shows many women die in the process, up to 4.1% of maternal death is attributed to prolonged obstructed labour  in Malawi. If the mother survived it is usually the prize of a dead baby and an obstetric fistula with its social consequences.



Anecdotal evidence reveals Obstetric Fistula prevalence in Malawi is estimated to 20 thousand women living with fistula and this means it is a big problem.