One woman’s war against fistula

Ms Zipora Jaliwa (right), a fistula survivor from Dodoma poses for a photo during a past CCBRT function
Dar es Salaam. Causes and symptoms of obstetric fistula if not revealed to health service providers, might make take a long time to eliminate the health complication, well-wishers have said.

It seems many medical practitioners, especially those in health facilities that do not offer treatment for the complication, are not aware of fistula symptoms, says Zipora Jaliwa, a survivor of the condition.

The mother of two says giving birth to her second son resulted in a bad motherhood experience as it brought her shame and dishonour.

That was the situation until the Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT) brought new hope to her family, thanks to Vodafone and Vodacom Tanzania’ s support.

“At first I got confused, lost hope and I was no longer happy as people shunned me… but I thank my family, especially my husband because he was there to support me,” she says.

It was four years ago when Zipora got fistula while giving birth to her second born.

She says that in her village, Kitatu in Mpwapwa District, there is not even a dispensary and as a result they have to visit the next village for medical services.

This is the reason why she suffered prolonged labour without a professional midwife’s support. Eventually she settled for home delivery.

“I spent several hours without delivery due to complications I experienced. Though it was a prolonged labour, I finally gave birth to a baby boy… but after the delivery my life changed completely and my happiness died out as I could not control my motions,” she says.

“I tried to seek medical treatment at Pwaga hospital without knowing that it was fistula, which I had even not heard about. When I went to the hospital I was told it was just an infection resulting from worms,” she narrates.

Zipora said she continued to take medicine hoping to get better and believing it was just worms. However, the situation worsened as she could not participate in any social activity.

It was the stink and the inability to control the passage of her stool that took the confidence out of her. At times some people thought she was pretending and others claimed she was bewitched.

 “I became helpless as I lost confidence because every time I passed by people I thought they were talking about me because many of them knew I was sick and others thought that I was cursed,” she says.

Zipora thought it was her end, regardless of the support that her family offered; but she has since seen a new ray of hope in her life.

A visit by CCRBT to her village was the greatest gift ever, she says, as within some days she was cured. After treatment, she is now proud to stand before people and tell her story so that many more women who are unaware of the condition can be helped.

“I thank CCRBT for restoring my dignity and enabling me to return to the way I used to be before the disgraceful fistula attacked me. From now I wish to become an ambassador and will make sure all women with fistula in my village and the neighbouring ones are identified and treated,” she vows.

Zipora wishes the government could do something because women in remote areas are the most sufferers. Many have no access to improved maternal services but also they lack awareness.

However, to end of fistula, the government and well-wishers have been urged to ensure that health services in the country are improved in order to prevent about 3,700 mothers estimated to be susceptible to it each year.

During the first commemoration of the International Fistula Day,  Vice President Mohamed Gharib Bilal said the government aimed to address the condition and encourage suffering women to seek treatment.

“In order to end fistula, we all have reasons to improve our health services, especially maternal services.  This is the only way we can prevent and reduce more than 3,000 fistula cases that befell the country last year. However, the ministry of Health is working to bring services closer to those in need,” said Dr Bilal.

He said further that, though Tanzania has made progress in providing favourable environment for child birth, there is more to be done and make sure that every newborn has a chance to live.

However, the CCBRT chief executive officer Mr Erwin Telemans said awareness is the most important thing that people need to prompt them seek for treatment, especially in remote areas.

He said for the past two years when his organisation partnered with Vodafone and Vodacom Tanzania to raise awareness and offer free treatment the number of patients has increased significantly.

“Our plan is to curb the shame and stigma that women with fistula suffer from. However, up till now many women mostly in remote areas have not been treated, thus, we need to provide more education because fistula surgery is easy and costs little,” he said.