2018

ERADICATING FISTULA IN MADAGASCAR

2018

OPERATION FISTULA

Operation Fistula works to eradicate fistulas in Madagascar and beyond. Its programme focuses on 10 Malagasy districts. We funded Operation Fistula when it was piloting its clinical model in the Sava region.

www.opfistula.org

CHALLENGE

A fistula is a childbirth injury that happens when a caesarian section operation isn’t completed correctly or on time. Alongside the loss of their child, women are left with a condition that devastates their lives. With 50,000 new cases each year in Madagascar and only 16,000 women treated annually, many women will never know a cure.

ACTION

Operation Fistula teams work in Madagascar to eradicate fistula in the country. They work to find and provide quality treatment to every woman with the injury. They do so by advocating to local communities so that they understand that fistula is a treatable disease that should not carry a stigma.

Working with the Madagascan Minister of Health, the teams create a referral infrastructure that ensures new cases of fistula are treated within six months of the injury’s occurrence. An individual performance-based funding mechanism enables Operation Fistula to contract and pay fistula repair surgeons.

IMPACT

WOMEN TREATED

at the Sambava Regional Hospital in 2018