Fuente: © UN (United Nations)
http://www.un.org/

African health specialists adopt call to action as part of campaign to end fistula

/noticias.info/ A United Nations Population Fund-sponsored (UNFPA) four-day workshop on ending the childbirth injury known as obstetric fistula has ended with a call to African Governments to ensure women's access to reproductive and maternal health services, as well as free or subsidized delivery care and Caesarean sections.

Some 100 senior officials from 34 African health ministries, as well as international agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa this week, recommended that government urgently address the loss of health care personnel in Africa because of the "brain drain" and deaths from HIV/AIDS infections.

Obstetric fistula is a major injury to girls and women who survive excessively long labour during childbirth, but may suffer stillbirths and subsequently develop incontinence and a vulnerability to infections. It alters the lives of more than 2 million women worldwide, most of whom live in Africa and who can generally be cured with relatively simple surgery but often cannot afford treatment.

Major contributing factors include pregnancy at a very early age, poverty, illiteracy, the low status of women, gender inequality and limited geographic, financial and socio-cultural access to family planning and emergency obstetric care.

The workshop participants called for access for all women with fistula to comprehensive treatment, including quality medical care, counselling and mental health services, health education, and social re-integration assistance.

They called on African governments to adopt a more comprehensive approach to deal with fistula, including promoting girls' education, delaying the age of marriage and childbearing, promoting gender equality, addressing harmful cultural practices, and fostering community awareness and mobilization.

They especially called for the participation of men in eliminating fistula, fostering strong partnerships with civil society, NGOs and donors, and empowering women living with fistula through advocacy and peer support.

The Director of UNFPA's Africa Division, Fama Hane-Ba, commended the participants for their work, including the drafting of an African regional strategy for the elimination of fistula, which she described as a milestone in efforts to rid women of the scourge. She also pledged UNFPA's full support to governments, NGOs and civil society for the prevention and treatment of the affliction. notas_de_prensa_archivo