UCLA team helps create facility for Ugandan women who suffered childbirth injuries

Imagine experiencing obstructed labor while giving birth in a remote African village with no medical help available. Chances are the baby will die and the woman will suffer an obstetric fistula, a tear between the bladder and rectum that results in constant leakage of urine and sometimes stool. Left untreated, the woman faces a lifetime of social ostracization.Fistulas are rare in developed nations where cesarean sections are available. But the World Health Organization estimates that in the east African country of Uganda about 200,000 women are living with fistulas, and that about 2,000 new cases occur annually.But with the help of a team from UCLA Health, the new Centre for Gynecologic and Fistula Care at Mbarara Hospital in western Uganda recently opened to expand the capacity to treat this debilitating childbirth injury.The 50-bed facility has been a long-term goal of supporters since 2009. Under the umbrella of the non-profit organization,Medicine for Humanity,Dr. Christopher Tarnay, chief of female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery at UCLA Health, and a team of UCLA doctors, nurses and medical students, have been traveling to Mbarara Hospital annually for two-week surgical trips to treat up to 50 women each time. During those trips, the UCLA team trained local doctors so that more women can be treated year round.The new ward is the next step in helping create a sustainable program.“These patients just want to be able to wake up with a dry bed,” Tarnay said....
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news