Cleaning up my bookmarked items on my browser, I run into an old NPR article that had caught my eyes about one of the leading cause of women death in developing countries.
Digging deeper what I have learned is that Dr. Catherine Hamlin and her late husband Dr. Reg Hamlin are two people that have made a significant contribution in helping women get their self respect back by making a procedure rarely available in most developing countries, a free fistula repair surgery to poor women suffering from childbirth injuries.
Fistulas are holes that develop in the tissue that separates the vagina from the bladder and/or rectum during labor because the mothers (often young teenagers) have small pelvises or a poorly positioned fetus.
More below the fold...
In the United States, this condition could be avoided by caesarean section, but in many developing countries, poverty prevents women from getting proper treatment. Untreated, the fistula causes a constant stream of urine, and sometimes feces, to drip, leaving a trail and odor wherever these young mothers go. In Ethiopia, thousands of young girls suffer from this devastating condition.
I don’t know how many of you had a chance to follow this story on Opera. Oprah covers in depth the embarrassing and devastating effect of Obstetric Fistula, its cause, and the story behind the people that are making a remarkable effort to treat and help embarrassing condition better by giving woman their self respect back.
These three part documentary (Part I (embedded below) and Part II and Part III) is worth watching if you have time as it is fascinating and worth bringing to light to recognize Dr. Hamlin and her late husband's efforts in what they had started and are still doing.
The governments of most of these African countries put very little resources to help these woman because of their social class as they are the poorest and voiceless people in the continent. However, as a result of many contributions from many individuals, outside governments and organizations, today the mission to raise awareness of and funding for fistula repair, prevention, and educational programs worldwide is strong.
2009 marks the 50th year since Dr. Catherine Hamlin and her late husband, Reg, went to Ethiopia and saw for the first time the plight of sufferers with obstetric fistula. Dr. Hamlin has been god sent to many of these woman to continue the legacy even after the passing of her husband and at 85 she is still going hard at it. She has opened three new Hospitals in the Ethiopian cities of Bahr Dar, Mekele, and Yirgalem since 2006, and is opening two more in Harrar and Metu by 2009.
To the late Dr. Reg Hamlin, who died in 1993, he is buried in the British War Graves Cemetery in Addis Ababa and the epitaph on his tombstone fittingly reads, "A man of vision and compassion".
On behave of the Daily Kos community, today I dedicate this diary to both Dr. Reg Hamlin and Dr. Catherine Hamlin for your dedication and commitment to changing the lives of the many unprivileged women without voice. Thank you!!
If you would like to contribute to support Dr. Catherine Hamlin calling, click the Donate Now link here.
The award winning feature-length documentary on PBS, A Walk to Beautiful tells the stories of five Ethiopian women who suffer from devastating childbirth injuries and embark on a journey to reclaim their lost dignity. Rejected by their husbands and ostracized by their communities, these women are left to spend the rest of their lives in loneliness and shame. They make the choice to take the long and arduous journey to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in search of a cure and a new life.
A must see if I may add!