Sick of Fistula women wait in the hospital, on July 16,2008, of Maradi in Niger, for the chance to be examined and get an operation. They have vesico vaginal fistula. This condition is found in young women who get pregnant in a very young age and have experienced a prolonged obstructed labor without any medical assistance. Simplistically put - the wall between the bladder, sometimes even the rectum and vagina is damaged by the prolonged pressure of the baby's head and a fistula or hole develops. Consequently, the woman is constantly leaking urine and sometimes even feces, due to the uncomfortable smell the woman becomes an outcast in society. Throughout Africa, millions of people do not have access to proper medical care, shortage of doctors and nurses; lack of medications; or the inability to get to a clinic in time to be helped. There are countless young women with this problem. In a country of 12 million people with only approximately 414 doctors, this is not an unusual circumstance. But for the women affected by fistula, it is a desperate situation with little hope to be able to be restored to a normal life.It is estimated that for some 200,000 women in Niger, life is filled with humiliation, horrible discomfort and shame of their inability to control their urine and feces. Most of these young women spend their lives isolated, in extreme poverty and ostracized by society. In order to help this women the Turkish help Association Deniz Feneri and Doctors Worldwide organized a trip to Niger with specialists from Turkey. The team did their surgeries in the hospital of Maradi.
AFP PHOTO / MUSTAFA OZER/FEATURE
