In Ethiopia: Birthing Injuries, Infant Mortality, and what we are going to do about it.

In November 2010, SalaamGarage is bringing a team of humanitarian media makers to Ethiopia. The stories we will be creating will tell of the work being done to repair, prevent, and treat obstetric fistulas at the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital. Fistula is a terrible but preventable birthing injury that renders the woman incontinent, leaking feces or urine from the vaginal canal. Untreated, the woman becomes a pariah, sometimes abandoned by their husbands and banished by their families. A fistula can be caused by obstructed labor, still births, and when a physically underdeveloped girl’s pelvis is too narrow for child birth causing labors sometimes as long as 10 days.

Below is a slideshow that was produced for NPR in 2007 that explains obstetric fistula and explores some of the causes. At the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital lives and livelihoods are saved every day. Every woman who comes to them with child birth injuries is treated completely free.

Hospital Gives Ethiopian Women a Chance at Care
by Brenda Wilson

The Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital performs about 3000 surgeries per year. That number can and will go down. As you read this and listen to the attached programs, the Fistula Hospital is opening mini hospitals throughout the Ethiopian countryside. The hospital trains midwives and doctors, educates women on their rights, cures the injured, and supports the incurable. Like so many problems women face in the developing world, this one is hard to solve with one big action. Malnutrition, child brides, women’s health inequalities and status, poverty, and other situations makes this a persistent but solvable problem.

Join us in Ethiopia November 21-Dec 2, 2010 for a 13 day itinerary from Addis Ababa to Lalibela, Ethiopia. Create stories to raise awareness and inspire change. What are you going to do to eradicate obstetric fistulas and the inequalities and suffering that come with it?

Deadline August 21, 2010

Required viewing for all participants: The NOVA Documentary A Walk to Beautiful: “The award winning feature-length documentary A Walk to Beautiful tells the stories of five Ethiopian women who suffer from devastating childbirth injuries and embark on a journey to reclaim their lost dignity. Rejected by their husbands and ostracized by their communities, these women are left to spend the rest of their lives in loneliness and shame. They make the choice to take the long and arduous journey to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in search of a cure and a new life.” (available at Netflix instantly & by mail)

Click here for more from Brenda Wilson for NPR’s All Things Considered

Selam. Peace. Salaam. Shalom.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 21st, 2010 at 8:11 pm. It is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.