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African Health Specialists Adopt the Johannesburg Call to Action on Ending Fistula
UNFPA
2005-10-28
African governments should urgently ensure the rapid implementation of national and regional programmes to address maternal health and obstetric fistula, according to participants at the African Regional Workshop on Making Motherhood Safer by Addressing Obstetric Fistula.
In a Call to Action adopted at the close of their four-day
meeting on 26 October, the participants, including more than one hundred senior
officials from the ministries of health of 34 countries, international agencies
and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), agreed that actions taken to
eliminate fistula will help achieve international commitments on development,
and particularly improve the health of mothers and infants, as well as address
gender and economic inequities. They also called on African governments to
strengthen and scale up national health systems and to especially ensure
womens right to access reproductive and maternal health services. This should
be further enhanced by ensuring free or subsidized Caesarean sections, delivery
care and fistula treatment.
Other recommended actions for treating and preventing
fistula and enhancing maternal health care include: urgently addressing
shortages in health-care personnel, which have been compounded by the lack of
investment in human resources and the loss of these personnel to HIV and AIDS
and brain drain. Participants also recommended ensuring access for all
women with fistula to comprehensive treatment, including quality medical care,
counselling and mental health services, health education, and social
re-integration support.
Obstetric fistula is a major injury and disability to women
who survive childbirth, altering lives of more than 2 million women worldwide,
the majority of whom live in Africa. It is associated with stillbirths and poor
prenatal health. Major contributing factors include poverty, illiteracy, low
status of women and gender inequality, as well as limited geographic, financial
and socio-cultural access to family planning and to emergency obstetric care.
To overcome these impediments, the participants called on
African governments to adopt a more comprehensive approach to deal with fistula,
including promoting girls education, delaying the age of marriage and
childbearing, promoting gender equality, addressing harmful cultural practices,
and fostering community awareness and mobilization. They especially called for
the participation of men in eliminating fistula, fostering strong partnerships
with civil society, NGOs and donors, and empowering women living with fistula
for advocacy and peer support.
In her closing remarks to the workshop, Fama Hane-Ba,
Director of Africa Division at UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund,
commended the participants for their work, especially the Call to Action and the
drafting of an African regional strategy for the elimination of fistula, which
she described as a milestone in efforts to rid women of the scourge. She also
pledged UNFPAs full support to governments, NGOs and civil society in the
treatment and prevention of fistula.
The four-day workshop was aimed at sharing experiences from
fistula programmes in the region and to draw lessons learned with a view to
guide programming exploring how fistula can be an entry point for improving
maternal health and to build consensus on preliminary works towards the
development of a draft Regional Strategy for Fistula Elimination.
UNFPA is currently leading a global Campaign
to End Fistula, involving a wide range of partners. Launched in 2003, the
Campaign focuses on three main areas: preventing fistula from occurring,
treating women who are affected and supporting women after surgery so that they
can be successfully reintegrated into their families and communities. Learn more
at www.endfistula.org.
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