Afghan “Torn” Women Get Another Chance

Rukia (in the foreground) recovers after a successful fistula operation at Malalai Maternity Hospital in Badakhshan, Afganistan (August 2014). Credit: Karlos Zurutuza/IPSBy Karlos ZurutuzaKABUL, Sep 2 2014 (IPS)“The smell of faeces and urine isolates them completely. Their husbands abandon them and they become stigmatised forever” – Dr Pashtoon Kohistani barely needs two lines to sum up the drama of those women affected by obstetric fistula.Alongside the health centre in Badakhshan – 290 km northeast of Kabul – Malalai Maternity Hospital is the only health centre in Afghanistan with a section devoted to coping with a disease that is seemingly endemic to the most disadvantaged members of the population: women, young, poor and illiterate.“Given that a caesarean birth is not an option for most Afghan women, the child dies inside them while they try to give birth. They end up tearing their vagina and urethra,” Dr Kohistani told IPS. “Urinary, and sometimes faecal incontinence too, is the most immediate effect,” added the surgeon as she strolled through the hospital corridors where only women wait to be seen by a doctor, or just come to visit a sick relative.“Pressure mounts on them from every side, even from their mothers-in-law. They have to hear things such as `I had five children without ever seeing a doctor´. Many of these poor girls end up committing suicide” – Dr Nazifah HamraThey are of practically all ages. Some show obvious si...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Tags: Aid Development & Aid Editors' Choice Gender Gender Violence Headlines Health Human Rights Middle East & North Africa Population Poverty & MDGs Projects Women's Health Afghan Ministry of Public Health Afghanistan birth chil Source Type: news