KEN/10/060 - Urgent fistula treatment of 30 women in Kenya

Objective: 10 women between 18 and 30 years from various parts of Laikipia and North Eastern province, suffering from fistula, need to be operated to improve their living conditions.

Background: The women who are suffering from fistula are coming from very poor families, are uneducated and unskilled. Fistula is generally caused by prolonged, obstructed labour during childbirth. The women who need to be operated have lived for a long time with this trauma of childbirth which allows urine or faeces to pass through the vagina (fistula). The impact on these women is catastropic: smelling of urine or faeces, suffering recurring infections, abandoned by their husbands and families, ostracized by society, and left to survive in appalling conditions. Surgery can correct this condition, and there are doctors available who are willing to operate these women in Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi, from 15 June 2010 on.

Use of Funds: The funds will be used to treat women who suffer from fistula. The treatment of each woman will cost about Kshs 60,000 (= 600 EUR) for a week in hospital, if there will be no other complications. The amount will cover surgery and treatment for one week in the hospital.

Beneficiaries: 10