WHAT WE DO

Ending fistula through holistic treatment and prevention.

Every woman deserves to give birth safely, and to heal fully if she is injured. Our partners are the experts on fistula care and prevention in their own countries and communities. 

5

country partners in sub-Saharan Africa

40+

years of experience supporting African-led organizations

3

hospitals built focused on fistula repair, recovery, and reintegration

5,500+

free surgeries for women and girls with fistula

Our Commitments

We back the people closest to the work.

Our African-led partners repair injuries through expert surgery, support recovery with physical therapy and counseling, cover travel to and from care, and help women earn a living as they rejoin their communities. They also stop fistula from happening by training health workers and sharing information with families so women can recognize the danger signs of obstructed labor and reach care in time.

Our partners are rooted in the communities they serve. They employ their neighbors, speak the languages, and answer to the women who walk through their doors. They have the vision. We bring the partnership that makes it happen.

The African-led organizations we fund give women what they need to heal and rebuild their lives: surgery, physical therapy, a ride to the hospital and home again, community with fistula survivors who’ve been through it, and reintegration support for settling back into their lives.

Survivors who have been treated go back to their communities to find women still living with fistula, help them get to treatment, and show them that healing is possible.

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“I just want to give back what the program has given back to me.
I’m looking forward to serving the community.”

— Mwajuma

Kenya · Fistula survivor and community advocate

Our Partner Network

Meet the organizations ending fistula.

Across five countries in sub-Saharan Africa, our partners are ending fistula community by community. Explore their programs and meet the leaders behind them.

Maternal Dignity Project partner countries in Africa Interactive map highlighting Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Niger and Uganda.
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01 / 05 Burkina Faso
Local Partner

ARENA Medical Center

In Burkina Faso, Dr. Itengre Ouedraogo built the country's first dedicated fistula center.

ARENA brings surgery, reintegration, prevention, advocacy, and medical training together under one roof, strengthening care while building local capacity for the future.

Burkina Faso

Impact at a glance

Explore Burkina Faso
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“We know today that having fistula is not the end of the world, because ARENA has made it its mission to eradicate fistula.”

— Habibou

Burkina Faso · Fistula survivor and community advocate

How We End Fistula

Care for the whole woman.

Our partners provide holistic care, including expert surgery, walking with women as they reintegrate into their lives with their families and communities, and working upstream so the next woman never faces the pain of obstetric fistula.

Treatment

Restoring Health

Our partners provide expert surgical repair and physical therapy for obstetric fistula.

They also treat related childbirth injuries that, while not as devastating, often go unnamed. This includes pelvic organ prolapse and related pelvic-floor damage.

Fistula repair succeeds in most cases, and partners pair it with the physical therapy that rebuilds mobility and function, so a woman can fully heal. Maternal Dignity Project funds the surgeons, physical therapists, and treatment centers that make this care possible.

Reintegration

Restoring Hope

A surgical repair is the beginning, not the end.

Fistula often costs a woman her marriage, her income, and, as a result, her standing in her community. Our partners walk with her after surgery through counseling, economic training and income support, and a path back into a life she is excited to live.

Many women don’t just return. They come back as advocates for their sisters who do not yet know help is available.

Prevention

Ending Fistula

We will not end fistula without increased investment in prevention.

Partners work upstream to raise awareness in their communities and strengthen emergency obstetric care. Our goal is to close the distance between a mother and skilled help when labor turns dangerous.

The same work that ends fistula prevents related childbirth injuries and maternal deaths too, reaching far beyond a single condition.

A Model for Prevention

Terrewode Maternity

Since Terrewode Women’s Community Hospital opened in Soroti in 2019, more than 1,800 women and girls have received comprehensive, holistic treatment and rehabilitation for fistula and other childbirth injuries.

Now, Terrewode is building on that progress with a new project to address the chronic absence of accessible, high quality maternity care in Eastern Uganda. Terrewode Maternity Hospital will serve as a model for all our partners in providing care that prevents fistula and ensures care before, during, and after labor is delivered with dignity.