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UN calls for greater efforts to ensure safe childbirth

24 May 2013 02:27 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The prevalence of obstetric fistula -- a preventable and treatable condition linked to women's reproduction -- among women and girls in developing countries is a denial of their human rights, a senior UN official said on Thursday, urging global action to make childbirth safer, APA reports.

"The persistence of fistula is a result of human rights denied and a reflection of human rights abuse," Babatunde Osotimehin, the executive director of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), said in his message marking the first-ever International Day to End Obstetric Fistula.

"It reflects chronic health inequities and healthcare system constraints, as well as wider challenges, such as gender and socio- economic inequality, child marriage and early child bearing, all of which can undermine the lives of women and girls and interfere with their enjoyment of their basic human rights," he noted.

Countries around the world are marking the first-ever International Day to End Obstetric Fistula with a variety of events to raise awareness of this neglected health and human rights challenge.

An estimated three million women and girls -- almost all in developing countries -- have been affected, with some 50,000 to 100,000 new cases developing each year, according to figures from the UNFPA and the UN World Health Organization (WHO).

One of the most serious injuries of childbirth, obstetric fistula is a hole in the birth canal caused by prolonged, obstructed labor due to the lack of timely and adequate medical care.

In most cases, the baby is either stillborn or dies within the first week of life, and the woman suffers a devastating injury -- a fistula -- that renders her incontinent. Many women and girls with fistula are shunned by their families and communities, which would deepen their poverty and magnify their suffering.

Obstetric fistula has been virtually eliminated in industrialized nations, as it is preventable and, in most cases, can be surgically repaired. However, an estimated 2 to 3 million women and girls still live with the condition in the developing world.

Over the past 10 years, the UNFPA has directly supported more than 34,000 women and girls to receive surgical treatment for fistula -- roughly one third of global repairs -- including 7,000 women and girls in 2012 alone.

Partner agencies have supported thousands more as part of the global Campaign to End Fistula, which was launched in 2003 by the UNFPA and a wide range of partners. The campaign is based on the three key strategies of prevention, treatment and social reintegration of survivors.

Uniting more than 80 international partner agencies and hundreds more at national and community levels, the campaign has tripled in size since its inception and is currently active in more than 50 countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.

According to the UNFPA, women and girls with obstetric fistula are usually poor, often illiterate, with limited access to health services including maternal and reproductive health care.

"In an age of rapid globalization in which mobile and e- technologies have changed the face of human communications and revolutionized the frontiers of science and medicine, it is unconscionable that the poorest, most vulnerable women and girls continue to suffer needlessly from this scourge," Osotimehin said.

A reconstructive surgery to fix the condition costs around 400 U.S. dollars, according to the Campaign to End Fistula.

In a 2012 report, UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon called for intensified political and financial mobilization to accelerate progress toward ending obstetric fistula. He also appealed for at least 750 million U.S. dollars to treat all cases of obstetric fistula by 2015.

"This is part of our broader effort to reach the Millennium Development Goals and mobilize partners in the Every Woman, Every Child initiative," Ban said on Thursday in his message on the International Day to End Obstetric Fistula.

"The benefits reverberate far beyond the women who are directly affected, extending to children who will be raised by healthy mothers and communities that benefit from their contributions," he added.

Highlighting the importance of the new International Day for raising public awareness, Ban said: "The more understanding and action we generate today, the more we can look forward to a future where obstetric fistula is virtually unknown because it is virtually non-existent."