While one million women suffer from obstetric fistula, it is evident that for every single woman who receives treatment, at least 50 likely more go without.
As the world celebrates fistula day this month there is an ambassador in Kenya who is there to ensure that women are aware of this treatable birth injury.
Despite obstetric fistula being a treatable condition and it can be repaired the country is still grappling with issues of surgery. On a minimum, one can spend Sh46,000 to be repaired but most women cannot afford this money since they come from poor background.
“Obstetric fistula is a hole between the vagina and rectum or bladder that is caused by prolonged obstructed labor, leaving a woman incontinent of urine or feces or both,” said Sarah Omega, one of the survivors.
Sarah from was diagnosed with obstetric fistula after laboring for 20 hours before she was taken to a nearby hospital and upon reaching there she was not attended for another 18 hours since her case was complicated. She was later transferred to another hospital but it was too late the baby was dead and she had to undergo caesarian section to remove the dead foetus.
“The day I was to deliver I was all alone because I was an orphan and that is why I was not able to access medical facility on time and that is when I was diagnosed with fistula,” she said.
After 12 years of depression due to the stigma around fistula, she was admitted in a psychiatric ward and it is by the help of the psychiatric doctor that she learned about Dr Hillary Mabeya in 2007 who repaired her condition after paying the Sh46,000.
Since then she had decided to help other women who are suffering from the same problem. She is the founder of the "lets end fistula" program, a program that want to ensure that no woman continues to suffer in silence yet fistula is a treatable birth injury.
She works as the outreach manager since 2011 and so far more than 1,000 women have been treated. She is also the Communication Officer for Action On Fistula a three-year programme that aims at treating 1,200 women by the end of the three years from 2015.
“We share with women about the availability of fistula treatment, provide transport to the healthy facility and we cover their treatment cost,” she said.