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RESPONDING TO THE RISK OF OBSTETRIC FISTULA IN HAITI

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RESPONDING TO THE RISK OF OBSTETRIC FISTULA IN HAITI

RESPONDING TO THE RISK OF OBSTETRIC FISTULA IN HAITI

calendar_today 30 June 2016

Port-au-Prince, June 30, 2016 --- The Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP) and UNFPA organized, in Port-au-Prince, May 30, a panel of experts on fistula, with the participation of various key partners concerned with this issue.

The MSPP, through the Director of the Family Health Directorate, Dr Reynold Grand’Pierre, agreed to assessing the OBSTETRIC FISTULA situation in Haiti and establishing management elements regarding fistula.The MSPP thanked UNFPA for supporting the implementation of this strategy, including a comprehensive response to complications related to childbirth.

The MSPP has called on all partners to make available facilities in reference centers for maternal health, including fistula repair. This will require integrating models of family planning into the country's health facilities, said Dr Grand'Pierre. When the technical and material capacities are in place, a national campaign can be launched for fistula repair, concluded the Director of DSF.

In 2003, UNFPA together with partners, launched the global campaign to end obstetric fistula. For UNFPA this is an integral component of the overall strategy to improve maternal health, and includes interventions to prevent it by providing access to emergency obstetric care, treating affected women and helping women who have undergone treatment to return to a productive normal life.

Obstetric fistula is an internal injury related to prolonged labor during childbirth. It leaves women incontinent, often ashamed of themselves and cut off from their community.

"Obstetric Fistula is very common in Haiti and affects in particular, women from 34 to 46 years, revealed a member of the Haitian Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics (SHOG).

In Haiti, 65% of deliveries take place at home and maternal mortality, although declining, remains high at 380 deaths per 100,000 live births, of which approximately 15% arise from complications related to childbirth.

Such indicators, together with the socio-economic determinants, make Haiti a fertile ground for obstetric fistula.