Obstetric fistula, otherwise
called Vesico Vagina Fistula (VVF), is a nightmare in the woman’s world. It is
estimated that two million women suffer from obstetric fistula globally.
But Nigeria has the highest
prevalence of VVF in the world, with 800,000 women living with the
problem and about 20,000 new cases occurring annually. It could even mean
death.
Statistically, 90 percent of these
cases go untreated. This implies that about 55 women are infected by VVF
and 18,000 cases are untreated daily.
VVF is an abnormal hole
between the bladder or rectum and the vagina characterized by continuous and
uncontrollable leakage of urine and/or faeces following childbirth. Obstructed
labour without timely intervention is by far the most common cause of obstetric
fistula.
With these great numbers of women
suffering from this health nightmare, it indeed becomes a phenomenon that must
be addressed.
The scourge has reached a stage
where all well-meaning individuals need to rise up to tackle it.
Surprisingly, as critical as the
situation is, majority of Nigerians are ignorant of VVF. When it happens to
their colleagues or relatives or even wives, they see it as a sign of
punishment from the ‘gods’, or a consequence of promiscuity.
This development propelled a
celebrated Nollywood actress, Stephanie Linus, and the Fistula Care Plus
Nigeria, with the support of the Federal Government and the United States
Agency for International Development (USAID), to premier a movie, ‘Dry’, to
narrate the ordeal faced by women, majority of whom are from the northern part
of the country.
The movie reveals child/early
marriage, religion beliefs which prevent pregnant women from accessing medical
care (antenatal) and the obnoxious African culture that forces them to resort
to the use of traditional way of delivery, as major causes of VVF.
‘Dry’ is a movie based on the true
story of Zara and Halima who find themselves in the same cultural trap
regardless of their backgrounds. They struggle to give meaning to their lives.
Speaking during the premier at
Silverbird Cinema in Abuja, the country manager of Fistula Care Plus Nigeria,
Dr. Habib Sadauki, and Linus stressed the need to improve on primary health
care system in the country.
Sadauki said; “We are at a critical
time in Nigeria, where we can make even greater impact so that more women
living with fistula can be treated. We also must help prevent fistula from
happening in the first place.”
Linus explained that women were
going through a lot in the country, but sometimes people pretend not to see
their situations, stressing the need for a collective effort to address the
problem.
According to her, the culture has
relegated women to the background, takes away their voice and right to life as
human beings. “The culture has made them to be like objects of exchange for
wealth/money, sold into slavery for sexual pleasure and baby making purposes”,
the actress stated.
“When your childhood, your innocence
is taken away from you, you can never get it back. Allow them to be children,
let them grow up, so that they can make positive decisions about what happens
to their body, what happens to their lives, and they will become more
productive.
“Give them access to education, good
medical care and when you give them all of this, you know you are building
women, who are sustainable and can also be able to take care of the
family.
“We have all the fantastic laws that
we need to be enforced, we need the parents to play their roles; we need the
medical part of it, doctors and hospitals to also play their roles.
“We ourselves need to change our
perception of things, of cultural practices that are not moving us forward as a
nation; even women are also to be blamed. We are complaining about men, but we
are also causing the problems for our own fellow women; so all of these
people need to be aware.
“The first point of action is to
bring it to the table; we don’t want to keep it in the background, because it
is never going to solve any problem. It is not good to deny or pretend that we
don’t have such in our society, but we are bringing it to the forefront, so we
can talk about it and move forward especially in this 21st century.
“It is not only in Nigeria, it
happens across Africa, across Asia; it is a world problem and that is why we
want to shine enough search light, and that also it is not a northern
thing, something you can find it across Nigeria”.
VIA: VANGUARDNG
No comments:
Post a Comment