Restore Dignity to Women in Mali

Can you imagine walking into a hospital room pregnant and vulnerable and seeing broken medical monitors, stained beds, and sticks being used as IV poles? This would be an upsetting shock for those accustomed to high-quality, fully equipped medical facilities, but for many women in rural Mali, a medical center, no matter how ill-equipped, is preferable to suffering at home. However, in order for a facility to operate effectively, it must be equipped with not only a trained staff who can help treat and repair fistula, but also with medical equipment and supplies to ensure a comfortable (and sanitary) visit.

In Mali, high fertility, low use of modern contraceptive methods, early marriage, and low rates of facility births place an estimated 2,400 women at high risk of fistula each year. The majority of these women live in rural areas, often over 15 kilometers from a health facility. Recent progress has been made to open new facilities and, over the last several years, 25 obstetric fistula teams have been trained to work in regional hospitals and health centers. The next priority is to outfit these centers with fistula-specific supplies and equipment which will strengthen the facilities ability to provide care, as well as their capacity to expand the breadth and depth of fistula services.

A recent survey of facilities in Mali found that some housed entire rooms and wards devoid of equipment and supplies and many more were limping by with broken beds, unsanitized utensils, and/or a dearth of equipment tailored to the predominant patient caseload. For example, the pediatric ICU in Koulikoro hospital lacks infant-specific equipment and supplies, although the predominant caseload is pregnant mothers and infants.

The survey also developed a priorities list of supplies and equipment specifically related to fistula treatment and prevention. The top three items requested include oxygen concentrators, surgical kits, and beds with new, clean mattresses and linens.

As the ultimate goal of the project is to increase access to high quality, sustainable, and resilient fistula treatment and prevention services, it is imperative to have both trained and equipped staff. The physical and mental toll fistula can have on a women is severe enough without the indignity of recovering in a broken bed with unclean sheets. Supporting this project will help ensure that women who suffer from fistula have not only the personnel available to aid with recovery, but also the simple provisions that many take for granted: anesthesia, exam lights, a clean towel. 

Each year in Mali, up to 2,400 women are in danger of developing obstetric fistula, a devastating but largely curable condition. Women living with untreated fistula are often shamed, isolated from their communities, and left to live in poverty.

That’s why IntraHealth’s Fistula Mali Project has provided successful repair surgeries for over 1,000 women. As part of our comprehensive treatment plan, we’ve helped many of these women to harness their own earning potential so they can rejoin their communities and begin making a living.  

Recently, 46 women completed our week-long business management training and received coaching and financial support to establish their businesses. Their ideas range from sheep-raising and hair styling to selling spices, soap, wood, or doughnuts. 

After presenting their business plans at the end of the training, each woman received 40,000 CFA(West African francs) to start their businesses and will receive another 10,000 CFA after demonstrating success. This money—which amounts to about US$100—is a life-changing gift for the women we help.

Hard to imagine that you can, quite literally, change a life for $100. And when you change a woman's economic future, you change her family's future. When you change families, you change communities. Regions. Nations. This investment will transform her life from one of despair and isolation into one of independence and hope. A victim of circumstance no longer - now these women can become business owners in charge of their own futures and empowered to invest in themselves and their families.  

Your participation in the Fistula Project will not only transform the physical and communal lives of women in Mali, but will help them take the next step back into the world—putting them in charge of their own futures and empowering them to change not just their own lives, but those of their communities and beyond.

Links:

• Fistula treatment and prevention