Pregnancy in an early marriage, delayed and obstructed delivery, and malnutrition in expecting mothers can cause fistula, said experts at a function yesterday.
Women in the rural areas suffer from fistula due to negligence in healthcare, dependence on conventional treatment, unwillingness to be treated by male doctors and many other factors, they said.
They made the remarks while addressing a discussion on fistula diseases and its prevention organised by Panchagarh Health Department at the district civil surgeon office marking the 3rd International Day to End Obstetric Fistula 2015.
This year’s theme of the day is “End Fistula now, restore women’s dignity.”
Panchagarh Civil Surgeon Dr Ahad Ali presided over the meeting while District Administrator Advocate Abu Bakar Siddik was present as the chief guest.
The rate of mortality among pregnant girls aged between 15 and 18 is five times higher than those aged 20 years and above, the health experts said.
In the keynote paper, General Secretary of Panchagarh Bangladesh Medical Association Dr Mansur Alam said many people do not know that treatments are available for such health problems. As a result, they continue to suffer from fistula although it is a curable disease.
He added that fistula treatment is available in all the hospitals across the country and sought cooperation from all to remove the misconceptions about the disease.
“In Bangladesh we do not have any recent data regarding its prevalence. However, a study jointly conducted by the government, UNFPA and Engender Health in 2003 shows that 1.69 out of 1000 married women suffer from obstetric fistula,” he said.
Every year, an estimated 2,000 women develop obstetric fistula and currently 71,000 women are living with it, according to a data of Directorate General of Health Services.
UNFPA is also supporting nine medical college hospitals to treat the fistula patients. Till now 2,904 complicated fistula cases have been operated.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
