Last year Sabina, a teenaged housewife in Korunia, Bangladesh, was able to give birth to a healthy son because of World Renew’s maternal and child health programs.
Today, we celebrate success stories like hers as we remember the thousands of women who die or are injured during childbirth and delivery each year. May 23 is the second International Day to End Obstetric Fistula—an injury that can occur when childbirth is prolonged, obstructed, or in Sabina’s case, the mother is too young physically to give birth safely. The birth canal tears, creating a hole into the rectum or bladder. The tear leaves the woman incontinent—and often results not only a lifelong disability but also ostracism from her family and community.
Today, we celebrate success stories like hers as we remember the thousands of women who die or are injured during childbirth and delivery each year. May 23 is the second International Day to End Obstetric Fistula—an injury that can occur when childbirth is prolonged, obstructed, or in Sabina’s case, the mother is too young physically to give birth safely. The birth canal tears, creating a hole into the rectum or bladder. The tear leaves the woman incontinent—and often results not only a lifelong disability but also ostracism from her family and community.
Seventy-five percent of poor women who experience obstetric fistula labor more than three days, (www.who.org) and many women and their babies die if they don’t get medical attention
When Sabina went into labor she went to her mother’s house for help delivering her baby, a common practice in communities where health services and information are scarce or non-existent. But early in her pregnancy, Sabina started getting prenatal care and nutrition counseling from a community health volunteer who was trained by a World Renew partner in Bangladesh. As a result, she was aware of the health services that were available to her. After two days of unproductive labor, Sabina was exhausted and needed help, but her family was too poor to pay for it.
Sabina’s sister-in-law is a member of the Bokul People’s Institution in Korunia. Through World Renew’s partner, the Bokul group was encouraged to set up and manage a health savings fund to help its members pay for medical emergencies like Sabina’s. When her sister-in-law requested an emergency loan for Sabina’s care, the group provided the family with money to get to the clinic and pay for the safe delivery of Sabina’s son. Thank God, they were both discharged in good health a few days later!
Without a trained health volunteer, access to emergency funds, and a health clinic in her community, the outcome of Sabina’s pregnancy could have been very different. It could have resulted in a lifetime of disability, related conditions, ostracism, or even death for Sabina and her baby boy. But thanks to World Renew’s community-based development programs and partners, Sabina and her family knew about the health care options that are available in her area. As a result, they now experience the joy of her growing son every day, despite living in poverty.
Today 2- to 3.5-million women and girls who live in developing countries also live with obstetric fistula, and there are 50,000 to 100,000 new cases every year. Obstetric fistula is preventable. Good maternal nutrition during pregnancy, referral to health facilities for complicated deliveries, and adequate medical and prenatal care can spare women from a lifetime of incontinence and unavoidable discharge and odor. Their situation usually makes them socially undesirable, and they are abandoned by their spouses, disowned by family members and friends, and isolated.
Join World Renew in observing the International Day to End Obstetric Fistula today so that women like Sabina can get the medical attention, education, and health care they need. It is just one part of World Renew’s integrated development programs in communities of extreme poverty that recognize people’s God-given dignity and build on their God-given resources. Will you help?
