Approximately half a million women live with untreated obstetric fistula, with thousands of new injuries happening each year.
What is obstetric fistula?
It begins with obstructed labor that goes untreated.
During prolonged, obstructed labor, a baby cannot pass safely through the pelvis. Without an emergency Cesarean section, the baby’s head can press against the surrounding tissue for hours or even days. That pressure cuts off blood flow. The damaged tissue can die, leaving an opening between the birth canal and the bladder, rectum, or both. The baby often dies and the mother is left incontinent.
Why It Happens
Fistula reveals where health systems are failing women.
A C-section performed in time by a skilled physician can prevent nearly every case of obstetric fistula.
How FistulA Affects Women’s Lives
The injury is only the beginning.
The physical effects of fistula can be devastating, but the harm extends far beyond the injury itself. Because the leaking is constant and difficult to conceal, women with fistula may be shamed for a condition they did not cause and could not have prevented. Most are pushed out of marriages, families, schools, work, and community life.
The result can be profound isolation, loss of income, grief, and a devastating loss of independence. But isolation doesn’t have to be permanent. Treatment exists. Recovery is possible.
Obstetric Fistula by the Numbers
Fistula is treatable & preventable.
Fistula Is Treatable
Repair can be the beginning of a new life.
Fistula repair surgery can close the opening, with success rates of approximately 80 to 90% when performed by a qualified surgeon.
Surgery begins the healing process. Women may also need physical therapy to restore mobility and pelvic floor strength, counseling to process trauma and loss, skills training for economic empowerment, and reintegration support to rebuild their lives and independence.
That’s why the strongest fistula programs treat the whole person, not just the injury. Over the last two decades, the combined efforts of local leaders, medical professionals, advocates, and health systems have helped reduce the burden of fistula.
Fistula Is Preventable
Women deserve to give birth safely.
Nearly every case of obstetric fistula is preventable. Prevention depends on:
The same investments that prevent fistula also reduce maternal deaths, newborn deaths, and other complications of prolonged, obstructed labor. Fistula has become rare in high-income countries largely because when labor becomes obstructed, safe emergency C-sections are available.
Women everywhere deserve that same care.
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Fistula Publications & Resources
Explore organizations, reporting, research, and peer-reviewed publications related to obstetric fistula.
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