Knowledge + Accessibility = Prevention

Once again the lack of knowledge and accessibility to sterile and safe facilities is leaving the women in Africa with life lasting compilations. Like the woman in the picture to the left, many other women all over Africa are left with obstetric fistula or also known as the poverty disease. This gut retching disease happens when women have a non sterile, long and painful birthing process with the end result often being a stillbirth and the inability to control their bladders or bowels. Many of these women were married off and pregnant by the age of 14, leaving the decision of where they will give birth to their husbands, mother-in-laws, or other relatives. So many of these women that are stuck in this situation have no money, no job, and no funds to pay for a facility where they can get adequate care to deliver their child. I was beyond shocked when reading this recently published article because I had never heard of such horrific way of living after giving birth to a child. Some of the women interviewed described a continues pain and burning, and if the pain wasn't bad enough the shame covers it all. Women with obstetric fistula have to live with the shame of soiling themselves anytime, anywhere. Some people comment of the smell or the piles of wet clothes that must be washed and rewashed.


Being that this is something that is preventable, what is the issue then? Why is this a continuous problem with women in Africa? The article Kenya: When Childbirth Leads to Disability and Despair states "prevention is the key." This sounds great, however how do we get these low income, poverty areas to a state where they have equal access to the facilities needed to prevent this from happening? With the abortion clinics and hospitals turning people away because of over crowding and the lack of knowledge and access to these facilities this will continue to occur. I believe that knowledge is power in situations such as these.
If more people knew about this rising issue, there may be a chance at
a change. A change that needs to happen very soon.