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FDSAs key intervention in the area of Medical Outreach is in conducting of surgical repairs for a condition known as Obstetric or Vesico Vaginal Fistula. This intervention is done in the form of VVF Surgical Medical Camps held periodically throughout the year in various hospitals.

Kenyatta National Hospital, being the largest VVF repair centre in the country receives over 400 VVF related cases each year, close to half of the 1,000 VVF cases nationally. The funding is earmarked for a project, run by FDSA aimed at reclaiming women’s dignity as well as protecting families and marriages from disintegration – a key consequence of VVF. A significant part of the project includes training of local specialist gynecologists, surgeons and registrars in fistula surgery as well as building capacity on the ground to handle Fistula.

Obstetric (or Vesico Vaginal) fistula is a devastating condition affecting poor rural women and girls. It manifests as an abnormal communication between the urinary bladder and vagina, which leads to uncontrolled, continuous leakage of urine and/or fecal matter. The condition most often occurs as a complication of obstructed labor but can also be caused by radiation, surgical trauma or accidents.

Inadvertently, majority of VVF incidences occur due to lack of access to qualified health care personnel during the labor period especially in cases of obstructed birth process.  The situation is usually worse off for new mothers, especially teenage mothers because their pelvis is still too small for the baby to pass through. Obstructed labor can therefore lead to injuries to the mother, child or both. This condition has perverse effects on the emotional well-being of the sufferer and completely destroys the individual’s social capacity. Obstetric fistulas affect women of all ages and account for 8% of maternal deaths worldwide.

The Flying Doctors’ Society of Africa (FDSA or The Society) was established in 1971, to raise funds for the spread of Medical Outreach in Africa through a membership scheme which guarantees free evacuation services to paid-up members. The Society also raises funds through fundraising activities, selling branded merchandise as well as donations. The Society is a charitable organization which puts to good use all unutilised subscriptions not spent on evacuations by funding Charity Evacuations and Outreach Programmes that ensure Medical facilities are accessible across the region. Since its inception, the Society has contributed the equivalent of 1 billion shillings to the spread of Medical Outreach in Africa.

FDSA works hard to ensure people all over East Africa have access to life saving medical attention. Part of the proceeds from membership subscriptions are used to help people like Rose. Become a member or donate today and help by being part of the solution.

Vesicovaginal Fistula (VVF) refers to an abnormal fistulous tract extending between the bladder and the vagina (a hole develops between the two organs) that allows the continuous involuntary discharge of urine into the vaginal vault. This condition is easily preventable and treatable but awareness is low.Funds got from this movie will go towards funding the VVF campaigns.

Watch the preview below to get an idea of what the movie is about. Come and have a great time and contribute for a good cause

Kenyatta National Hospital, East Africa’s largest referral hospital alone receives 400 cases annually of Obstetric fistula, which is known to be the most devastating of all pregnancy related injuries.

Here we met, 32 year old Purity Kageni, one of the thousands who suffered for eleven years from Obstetric fistula. Prolonged labor is one of the main causes of Obstetric fistula. So destructive is the injury that later it leaves the woman in constant pain as she almost continuously leaks urine and fecal matter.

The result is the unbearable odor of the condition that becomes a deadly curse, that saw Purity live as an outcast in her own family, loose several jobs, and eventually attempt to take her life twice.

Obstetric fistula can be treated with surgery, but thousands remain ignorant of the available treatment and the condition itself. Beatrice Muthoni, an HIV patient is also another survivor of fistula, who despite living in Nairobi city, suffered for two years.

With health facilities available, Beatrice claims that even the health workers in public hospitals didn’t tell her that the solution to her condition was surgery. She perhaps is just one the few lucky African women, who had her husband stand by her, but also underwent self isolation as she never spoke of her condition to anyone.

According to the African medical and research foundation, AMREF, It is estimated that in East Africa alone there are over 5000 new fistula cases each year. In Kenya, the condition mostly affects poor women and girls in remote and rural parts due to a severe shortage of health facilities.

Many women are forced to walk in labor for long distances in order to find a skilled supervised health facility to deliver, and often its too late for the baby.

Health workers in Kenya have in the past complained of a shortage of trained health workers, cited low wages and poor work conditions and are currently on a strike. The Kenyan government has in return sacked at least 25000 health workers in the country in the face of an existing shortage with no replacement.

With 400 cases reported every year in Kenyatta hospital, only 25 % are operated on. The cost for a single surgery is on average 300 $, a reason why many stay back at home due to lack of money.

For Purity, it was sheer luck after years that she underwent surgery during a free AMREF fistula camp. Later she tried reconciling back with her family only to realize that she was tagged for life as an outcast.

Thousands of women are reported with fistula every year, but the biggest loophole remains the access to information. This is one of leading causes of maternal mortality in east Africa, where government systems have failed to provide adequate health facilities and personnel to manage a curable and preventable condition. Experts believe that fistula is here to stay unless something is done soon.

Source: PressTV

The KNH Director flags off the VVF walk

For six years running, AMREF in partnership with KNH have been conducting National-wide VVF camps lasting two weeks.  This year’s camp was held on 10^th to 26^th June 2011 following media sensitization campaigns in the month preceding the camp and a VVF walk held on 10^th June 2011. As is the case in the previous camps, patients came from far and wide, with representation from all the regions in the country.

The OF patients turnout was largewith 320 women being screened and 102 repaired. KNH fully designated clinic 66 for VVF screening and surgery on routine bases and the theatre rooms renovated by AMREF are now operational. 45 medical staff were trained including 15 doctors and 20 nurses both KNH and the rural district hospitals.

Sofia Abdi, nominated Member of Parliament (MP) who hails from Ijara, one of the safe motherhood sites graced the occasion and pledged to lobby the government to play a bigger role in fistula treatment and prevention.

Drs Musomi and Khisa lead the MP through a tour of clinic 66

Drs Musomi and Khisa lead the MP through a tour of clinic 66

Participants also included five previously repaired and healed patients, who recited poems during the walk and launch of the camp.

Mothers who turned up during the camp at the far end

Previously repaired patients during the walk

To read some of the patients’ case studies, click HERE