Foundation to offer free VVF surgeries to 50 women in Bauchi
Fistula Foundation Nigeria, said it is set to conduct free Vesico Vaginal Fistula repair surgeries on 50 women living with the condition at the Gamawa General Hospital, Bauchi State.
READ ALSO: Obstetric Centre partners with NUJ to end fistula
The Executive Director of the Foundation, Mr. Musa Isa, disclosed this stating that the surgeries would be performed from March 21 to 25, by a team of experts from the National Fistula Centre, Ningi, Bauchi State.
He said ” the surgeries would be made possible with support from the United Nation Population Fund and funded by Global Affairs Canada.
“30 women have been mobilsed to the facility screening ahead of the surgery.
“Beneficiaries will be provided with free surgery, care, shelter and feeding for four weeks. After that, they would be given transport allowance back to their various homes.”
He called on the public to refer women with VVF condition to the centre for free surgery to reduce the burden among women of reproductive age.
VVF is an abnormal fistulous tract extending between the bladder and the vagina that allows continuous involuntary discharge of urine into the vaginal vault.
The condition, which may be due to early or child marriage, prolonged labour, among other reasons, can be rectified through surgery and medications.
According to the Pan African Medical Journal in an article published in 2020, titled, ‘Nigeria, a high burden state of obstetric fistula: a contextual analysis of key drivers’, the prevalence of obstetric fistula is 3.2 per 1000 birth and it was estimated that about 13, 000 new cases occur annually, suggesting that the backlog of unrepaired cases may take about 83 years to clear at such present rate of repair.
It stated that inclusively, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund reported that Nigerian women currently living with the condition range from 400,000 to 800,000 and annually, an additional 50,000 to 100,000 new cases occur in the country.
‘This rising burden might be due to absence of reliable data for prevalence and incidence, accurate maternal morbidity data, commensurate human resources to address the backlog, poor funding and equipment to match this national burden,” it observed.
MTO/Punch
